TRON: Awakening
by tython055
Summary: 20 years after the events of TRON: Legacy, the son of Sam Flynn and Quorra arrives in Academy City for rumors of men dressed in black with orange light lines on them. Meanwhile, a certain group of friends become suspicious of this rumor popping up and begin to investigate.
1. PROLOGUE

**Greetings, Programs! Tython055 here with an important A/N. This is my first time writing a fanfic and I would appreciate any advice or ideas that can make the story better. Inspired by the failed fanfic TRON: Defragged, this story takes place 20 years after TRON: Legacy and 6 months after the end of New Testament Volume 22. Since TRON 3 is confirmed that the script isn't scrapped by Disney and is on 'Cryogenic Freeze' as of now, this story will temporary give closure to the TRON franchise until official - I repeat - OFFICIAL confirmation that TRON 3 is announced. I'll check back with you guys until this chapter is over. With that being said, enjoy the story.**

**Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit story that is considered an alternate universe of two franchises co-existing with each other. TRON is own by Disney and Steven Lisberger. The 'A Certain' franchise is own by Kazuma Kamachi and ASCII Media Works.**

**Prologue**

"_Evolution is the greatest force in the material world. Evolution will provide us the next step of intelligent life. But it will come from somewhere unexpected._"

\- Kevin Flynn

**(Daft Punk - 'The Grid' plays)**

"The Grid. A digital frontier. One man tried to picture clusters of information as they moved through the computer. What do they look like? Ships? Motorcycles? Were the circuits like freeways? He kept dreaming of a world he thought he'd never see. And then one day...

"He got in," the young voice replies.

"That's right. He got in," the older voice confirms with a chuckle.

**TRON**

**California, 2019**

It was a quiet night in a small home in California. A man in his late 30s is telling a story to his 5-year-old son. The man has short brown hair and brown eyes and inherits a short beard. As for the boy, he has short jet black hair he inherited from his mother and brown eyes he got from his father.

"And the world is more beautiful than your grandfather had ever dreamed, but also more dangerous than he ever imagined. When he first came to the Old Grid, he met a brave but powerful warrior-", the father - who is revealed to be none other than an older Sam Flynn - telling the story of the worlds that his father - Kevin Flynn - and many years later himself [visiting the New Grid] when he was younger, visited.

"Tron!", the boy interrupts, knowing who his father is talking about.

"You're right. Tron."

"He fights for the users."

"He sure does. Oh boy, he showed him things that no one had ever imagined: disc battles fought in spectacular arenas and cycles that raced on ribbons of light. It was amazing. The two fought the evil Master Control Program and liberated the Old System. Sometime later, he wanted to create a new world. A new Grid. For both Programs and Users."

"But he couldn't be in two places all at once. Right, Dad?

"Yeah. So, he decided to create a program in his own image that can think, like humans can. And his name was C.L.U.

"As in Codified Likeness Utility?"

"Correct. And CLU, Tron, and your grandfather, they built a system where all information was free and open. It was so beautiful. And then, one day, something happened. Something that changed everything forever."

"The Miracle."

"The Miracle. The ISOs in which your mother is one," Sam smiling to his son.

The boy already knows about his heritage from his mother's side, what became of the ISOs, how his father and mother met, the reunion between Kevin Flynn and his son, and the aftermath of the boy's grandfather's selfless sacrifice to save his parents.

"Will I be able to go to the Grid like you and Grandpa did?", his son asks.

Sam sighs sadly, "Son, your mother and I haven't been there for over a decade. And with the death of CLU, I'm not sure what the Grid is like now. But one day, we'll take you there. I promise."

The boy gets excited at what his father said and wonders, "Really? You mean it?"

"Course I do, sport. That's what the Flynn name stands for," he promises to him.

Sam checks the time and sees that it's almost 10.

"It's getting late. And it's time for you to get to bed."

"Awwwww," the boy groans, wanting to stay up a little longer.

"No exceptions, Anon. Besides, I'm taking you to Flynn's [Arcade] tomorrow after a board meeting at ENCOM."

"Okay, Dad," he sighs and starts yawning. "G'night."

"G'night, kiddo.", as he watches his son walk upstairs to his bedroom. "Looks like nothing will ever go wrong for the three of us."

The Next Day...

In a large, isolated room, a tube resides in the center of it. In it houses a man who 'looks like an adult, yet a child; like a man, yet also a woman; like a saint, yet also a criminal'. He is Aleister Crowley, the General Superintendent of Academy City, in which the city he rules is 30 years ahead of the entire world. Aleister is in the middle of watching the news to see what's going on in the outside world, making sure there are no changes that could threaten his plans from being shattered. And then, something tragically happened as a News reporter speaks:

"Good evening. Our lead story: ENCOM board member Sam Flynn has died in a car accident. He was the son of the missing and deceased Kevin Flynn who design TRON and Space Paranoids, ENCOM's two bestselling video games back in the 1980s. Sam Flynn took back the company in 2009 as ENCOM's stocks rises again. Things have looked well for ENCOM until today. With Flynn's untimely death, ENCOM is on the verge of collapsing again. ENCOM board members have recently promoted David Gibbs - the son of the late founder of ENCOM [Walter Gibbs] - as the new board member, promising to make sure that the company will not suffer the same fate back when Dillinger Systems dominated the gaming industry in its time after the disappearance of the elder Flynn in 1989. What will become of the world without Sam Flynn? Only time will tell. This is Sarah Garcia from CNN signing off."

With that, the news report ended, and this gave Aleister a newer opportunity to further his plans.

"It would appear that it's time for Academy City to make its move on ENCOM. It's showtime," he thought as he grins.

**A/N: Hey everyone! So, what do you think of the prologue? Leave some feedback and tell me your opinions. And if you're wondering about the timeline and are asking, 'how come this story takes place in 2029 and not 2004 like Toaru?', hear me out. While it's true that Academy has developed technology 30 years ahead than the rest of the world, I want to incorporate that in this AU because even though Academy City invented their version of the iPhone before Apple did, 2029's version of Academy City's phones are advanced than the world's current iPhones in that reality. Secondly, this AU is similar like our universe but with major differences. Anything post-2019 is different from our current timeline such as how the US President or a new British Royal family is not like ours. And lastly, this AU must work with a Post-TRON: Legacy setting, otherwise this story wouldn't work at all.**

**Now it'll be sometime before I start chapter 1 so you'll have to be patient until I have a good story direction planned out. See ya soon!**

**END OF LINE**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**10 Years Later…**

**June 6****th****, 2029**

Academy City. With a population of 2.3 million. Located in the former industrial district of Tokyo, the independent, sovereign city-state is home to the Espers, who are gifted with psychic abilities ranging from the non-powered Level 0s to the highest level [known as the Level 5s] only 7 people have reached (the 6th ranked is still unknown to the public). Academy City is still recovering from the incident that occurred from England 6 months ago that had the entire population evacuated. No one knows what started this, but they just decided to forget about it like it never happened.

And then, a new rumor recently began to spread all over the city. It is said that people begin to disappear in alleys whenever they come across a sickly yellow-black colored goo glowing on the streets or buildings. Luckily, it started appearing in School District 7 and the rumor started to become more suspicious to Anti-Skill (the police/military force of Academy City) and Judgement (a disciplinary committee of students tasked alongside Anti-Skill to maintain peace and order within the city's school system, catching those who misuse their abilities for their own personal gains) to begin a full-on investigation.

"Arrrrgh! This is ridiculous! Every time a rumor becomes a potential incident, Kuroko doesn't want me in on this case!" exclaimed a certain Level 5 Electro-master. She has short chestnut hair with a flower hairpin on the right side of her hair, along with her eye color matching her hair. She also wears a summer middle school uniform for rich girls at a certain prestigious school. This is Mikoto Misaka, otherwise known as the Railgun.

Right now, the 15-year-old is complaining that her roommate - Kuroko Shirai – always tells her that she can't get involved in Judgement business as Shirai is a member of Judgement, and it's also because each time Misaka gets involved, she gets a bit trigger happy with her electric shocks. But Misaka just couldn't stand by while scum like Skill-Out or members of an organization within Academy City's dark side prey on the weak and innocent. Despite complaining to herself, she bumped into another friend who is also looking into the rumor as well since she's huge fan of looking into rumors or urban legends.

"Saten! It's good to see you!" Misaka says with a smile to one of her friends.

The girl is pretty-looking (despite being 14 years of age) and is often mistaken as a 16-year-old. She's around Misaka's height and has long raven-black hair reaching down midway on her back. She also has blue eyes and a noticeable small white flower on the left side of her hair. Since it's the weekend, she is wearing black and white blouse and green pants, along with a pair of sneakers. Her name is Ruiko Saten, and she's classified as a Level 0 Esper.

"Oh, hey Misaka!" replies the Level 0 with an excited tone. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Let me guess: you're investigating this rumor too?

"You could say that. Uiharu says that she doesn't want me to get involved in it."

Saten recently had a discussion with Kazari Uiharu, who is also a member of Judgement and best friend to the Level 0. She explained that Saten can't be nosing around this time because it could be too dangerous for her. However, being the stubborn girl that she is, likes the thrill and adventure, even though she gets into trouble in the process.

"Hey, I know! Why don't we investigate this rumor together?" asks Saten, still excited for adventure.

Misaka is taken aback by her question. "Me? I-I don't know. I really don't want break Kuroko's word, but I just can't stand by while people are disappearing. And besides, curiosity always gets the better of me more often than I can remember." she thinks as she's still not sure if she should do it.

"Thanks for the offer Saten, but I don't think Uiharu and Kuroko would be happy that we're nosing-" Misaka explains but the bubbly girl just interrupted her.

"Don't be silly! It's not like they can watch our every move 24/7. Come on!" she reassures as she grabbed Misaka's wrist and pulls her along.

"W-Wait! Don't I get a saying in this?! At least let me think for a second! Saten!" she yells, still trying to process at what she said.

A few hours pass and the middle of the day turns into nighttime. The two girls have been looking for anything related to the goo popping up in School District 7 but found nothing so far.

"Man, it's been 4 hours and now it's 6:30. And yet, still no sightings of what that rumor says." Misaka sighs in frustration. She thought this investigation is going to be easy. However, it's getting more difficult to even find something out of the ordinary.

"Relax. I'm sure we'll look again tomorrow after school. We better wrap up before it's past curfew," Saten calmly explains. "Wouldn't want your Dorm Mistress finding out you've been out late at night."

Misaka pales at the thought of it. That lady gives her and Kuroko the creeps and she even twist the latter's neck in a non-lethal way to prove a point of why being out late at night or using an ability inside the dormitory is strictly forbidden within Tokiwadai Middle School's disciplinary code.

As Misaka and Saten turned the next corner, they immediately stopped. Before them lay a sight that was not caused by an Esper. Instead is the same yellow and black goo that are on the walls of several buildings and some of it was spread out on the road. The yellow light from the goo flashed on and off, making it a little eerie.

"What the-? What the heck is this stuff?" The Level 5 Esper questioned as she bent down to observe the goo.

"B-be careful! We don't know what it is. It could be toxic or something!" Saten warned.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna touch it. Although, this is weird. It looks like the rumor is true: this stuff's been appearing for the past several days, yet whenever we come by to check it out, there's practically no one on the streets." The brunette said while indicating the barren area around them.

"Do you think that – whatever this stuff is - is the reason people are disappearing?" Saten asked.

"I don't know, but I honestly hope that's not the only reason." Misaka said.

Just as the girls were continuing their investigation, a bright light shines down upon them. It seemed to be a bright searchlight. And as the girls covered their eyes as they looked up, they could hear the engines of a jet, which confuses them. How could a jet be approaching them?

"What is that?!" Saten yelled over the noise.

"I have no idea, but there better be a good reason why we're being hit with a huge ass light!" Misaka complained.

However, what they saw isn't really related to the Anti-Skill. As the girls looked up, their eyes widened and gaped at the sight before them. Hovering above them was a strange black aircraft with orange glowing lights. It had a double-decked crew and passenger compartment that was supported by two enormous pylons. This was the Recognizer, a flying craft from the Grid. As the ship landed, the compartment lowered itself down from the pylons like an elevator and revealed two strangers standing on the platform. They were dressed in black skin tight suits with black and lit-up orange armor. On their thighs were round devices, presumably grenades. The elbow joints had batons sticking out and round discs were attached to their backs. Their heads had bizarre looking black helmets that made them look intimidating. These were the Black Guards, the elite forces that patrolled the Grid.

"W-what is that thing?! And who are you?!" The Railgun demanded to the two black suited men. Her shock turned to annoyance when the two beings didn't respond.

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Stop ignoring me! I said, who are you?!"

Saten however, was quite scared at the sight and her friend yelling at the two strangers was making it worse.

"Misaka, don't antagonize them!"

The two Black Guards still didn't say anything. Eventually, they turned their heads toward each other before looking back at the girls. They then walked towards the nearest person, which unfortunately was Saten. They roughly grabbed her by the arms as they began to examine her.

"H-hey, let me go! What are you doing?!" Saten squirmed in their grasp trying to break free, but with no luck.

"Let her go!" Mikoto shouted to the two, only for them to ignore her as they continued their examination.

"This program has no disc. Another stray." One of the Black Guards said to his partner in a deep, modulated voice, scaring the two girls. The two armored men then began dragging the struggling girl back to the Recognizer.

"Let me go! Let me go! W-wait, what do you mean by 'program'?!" Saten yelled as she continued struggling, desperately trying to break free but to no avail.

Misaka immediately went into action, rushing up to her friend and grabbed onto one of the men. "Hey, get your hands off her, you creep!" The only response she got back was a punch to the face from the man, and she ended up with a bruise on her left cheek. While the punch hurt, it only made Mikoto angrier. "Alright, that's it! I'm taking you bastards down!"

The brunette gathered electricity in her hand and with a flick of her wrist, launched the lightning bolt to one of the Black Guards. She smirked, thinking the bonehead would go down quickly. When the dust cleared, her smirk turned into a look of disbelief. "W-wha-? I-Impossible! That attack was strong enough to knock you out!"

The man she shot at had not even suffered a scratch! In fact, he just kept staring at her through the black mask. After a short moment of silence, the man then grabbed one of the round devices on his thigh, pressed the button, and threw it where Misaka was standing. She looked at the device, confused until realizing it was glowing and blinking.

"GRENADE!" Misaka screamed and ran as fast as she could.

BOOOOOM!

The bomb exploded, knocking Mikoto off her feet, but thankfully, due to her running clear from the explosion was not hurt badly.

"Misaka!" Saten screamed.

The two men then returned their attention to their captive and dragged her to the aircraft. Saten was then forced to stand on a lit-up square on the platform as a pair of manacles clamped down on her feet. As the Black Guards returned to their original standing points, the compartment began to rise up. As the compartment reached the edge of the pylons, the Recognizer's jet engines roared to life as the aircraft lifted itself up.

Misaka, stunned for a brief moment, saw the Recognizer taking off and immediately ran after it. "SAAATTEENN!" She yelled in despair as she chased after the ship, only for it to fly further out of her reach. Eventually, the ship disappeared behind several buildings, making Mikoto stop running and collapse onto her knees, punching the ground in agony and frustration. "DAMMIT!"

As the Recognizer flew off with its prisoner, no one on the ship noticed a figure standing on a rooftop a few blocks down. The figure was a young man dressed in similar black attire to the Black Guards. However, he had white lines lit up on his suit and had a helmet that was more round. The young man had noticed the Recognizer taking off with a female prisoner and knew that it was time to take action.

"Looks like they're at it again. Better get to that ship before they take that girl to who knows where."

The young man, revealed to be an older Anon Flynn, begin chasing after the Recognizer from rooftop to rooftop as it carried its 'passenger'. When he got closer to the ship, he took out one of his Batons attached to his thighs and launched a grappling hook from it. Thankfully, the grappling hook attached to one of the pylons, allowing Anon to reel himself up to the flying craft. As he held on, he noticed the Recognizer flying towards an abandoned building within School District 19, probably where the Blackguards would take their prisoners to have them 're-purposed'.

Meanwhile, Saten was looking through the transparent platform as the craft flew to its destination. She had to admit, despite being terrified of her current situation, she was really enjoying the view from up in the air. Sure, it was similar to flying in an airliner, but she was actually able to see Academy City below her in all its glory at night, even feeling the wind blow on her face felt amazing. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.

The Recognizer landed in front of the building, a really large warehouse. As the compartment of the Recognizer came down to floor level, the two Black Guards approached Saten as the manacles automatically came off her. Before she could attempt to run away, the two armored men roughly grabbed her and dragged her to the warehouse entrance. As this occurred, the black suited figure that was Anon quietly jumped down from his position from the Recognizer and sneaked up on the roof. When he got up there, he finds an exposed window and jumps in it, landing on a walkway. He sees the guards drag the girl to a platform that speedily lowers them to the underground levels. Seeing his chance, he jumps down and uses his grappling hook to lower himself down to the lower levels before the platform elevator doors closes.

Luckily, the hallways are empty. So, he discreetly followed them to a room they just entered, and the automatic door closes on Anon.

"Looks like this where they re-purpose these innocent people into brainwashed puppets. Damn them. I gotta find a way to sabotage their operation or else that girl's a goner." Anon thought, knowing he would be forced to Derezz her if it happens. But he won't let that happen. After all, he was taught by the best. Then, it hit him: he could find the control room and destroy it before the Black Guards succeed. But he only has 3 minutes and when that time is up, it's End of Line for her.

Inside the re-purposing room, Saten was dragged to a spot in the room where light shone on her. The two Black Guards then stood by her sides at attention. "W-why have you brought me here? What's going on?" Instead of an answer, the two armored men held up their index fingers. To her surprise, small blazes of flames ignited on their fingers similar to a blowtorch. Much to her shock and embarrassment (as she blushes), the Guards slowly ran down their flamed fingers down Saten's clothing, cutting up everything she was wearing!

"AAAAAGGHH! Stop it! Why are you stripping me?! I'm not an idol!" Saten screamed and blushed in humiliation as she was left completely nude. She did her best trying to cover her exposed perfect breasts (which are surprisingly a little bigger than Misaka's), but it was no use.

The two men ignored her. "Preparing to rectify program." The Guards said.

Before the armored men could do anything else, the lights went out. And just then it is replaced with red lights.

"What was that?" One of the men asked.

"Don't know." The other replied. "Inform the Alpha we have an intruder."

But before they can do anything, something fast flew through one of them, and instantly his body shatters into thousands of cubical voxels, which scatter on the ground like broken glass, with only the guard's disk remaining intact. The fast flying object flew back to an unknown figure and he catches it.

Saten gasped at the sight. She became scared when that guard was killed. Killed? Or was it something else? Anyways, standing before her and the remaining guard was another male dressed in similar attire to the Blackguards, but the person was wearing a different helmet, round and pointed to where the chin was located. Small dots of white lights lit up on the suit. Seeing this strange person made the girl shiver in fear.

The remaining Black Guard stepped away from Saten and grabbed his Identity disc from their backs, activating the light edge blade surrounding his disc.

"Halt, Progra-," the guard orders, but was immediately silenced when the figure ran up and slide under him with his knees and use his disc to slice through the program's neck, Derezzing him immediately.

The figure – Anon – then looks back at where the girl was standing but realizes she's not there. Suddenly, he hears the sound of an activated disc and turns around only to see the naked girl holding up one of the Derezzed guard's discs with her two hands, terrified. Since she's not hurt, he was able to get a look at the girl's face and he was a bit blown away. She was surprisingly a very beautiful girl with blue eyes and a single white flower attached to the left side of her long raven-black hair. And despite her being nude, her hourglass body looks perfect and physically fit. And although this might sound a bit embarrassing from Anon, her body has zero traces of body hair and her chest is the perfect size, making her more like a goddess. But he snaps those embarrassing thoughts out of his head and focus on what's more important: getting the girl to safety. But first, he needs calm her down.

"S-Stay back! I'll use this!" Saten yells with fear in her tone.

Anon just simply and casually deactivates his disc and attaches it back on his back. He simply walks toward her, but she moves back a bit, still scared.

"I said, get away from me, you pervert!" She repeats.

Anon speaks through the helmet with a modulated but slightly less creepy voice. "I'm not here to hurt you or do something disgusting to you. I'm here to help."

Although his voice doesn't sound creepy like those Black Guards, Saten calms down a bit but still holds up the disc. "W-Why are you here?"

"Like I said, I'm here to help." He responds.

"Then… Who are you?" She asks.

"That's not important. What's more important is that you're okay."

Saten then realizes he's not the enemy or a pervert. Just a guy trying to do the right thing. So, she drops the disc and drops to her knees, tears in her eyes. Suddenly, she feels a cloak wrapped around her exposed body and looks up toward Anon's jet-black helmet, her face reflecting off it.

"We need to get you out of here. I've set this place wired to blow via this detonator I'm holding." He explains showing her the detonator.

He then simply picks her up and carries her bridal style and runs out of the room towards the platform elevator. Luckily, emergency power was able to keep the elevator operational, otherwise it would be difficult to grapple up with a girl without clothing on. Saten didn't say a word as they made it outside of the warehouse from a safe distance. He then puts her down as she stands up. He then takes out the detonator and detonates the bomb, causing the entire warehouse to go up in flames and smokes.

A few minutes go by and Saten finally breaks the silence. "H-Hey. Thank you for saving my life. I owe you one."

Anon simply replies, "You don't owe me anything. I'm just doing what's right. That's all that matters."

"Okay, but I have some questions: Just who the hell are those guys?! What were they trying to do to me?! And what's with that sickly glowing yellow-black goo my friend and I saw earlier?!

Before he could answer her questions, sirens and the sound of a helicopter can be heard.

"I have to go." He says.

"Wait! You didn't answer my questions!" She exclaims.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let the authorities see me." He simply explains.

"But-," She retorts but Anon just ran off and parkour on the rooftops into the night.

The sirens got closer and Anti-Skill along with the chopper found her and the still burning building safely behind her in the background. When the authorities asked if she was okay, she simply didn't say a word to them, not in the mood to answer their questions. Just then, someone teleported out of thin air along with two others run toward her. One of the girls is Misaka with a bandage on her bruised cheek and the two other girls are their friends. One has auburn hair styled as pigtails with matching eye color and wears an exact Tokiwadai uniform as Misaka is wearing. This is Kuroko Shirai, the Level 4 Teleporter. And as for the other girl, she has short black hair with a flower headband on top of her head. She has brown eyes and wears a Sakugawa Middle School sailor uniform. Her name is Kazari Uiharu, a Level 1 with the ability to change the room temperature of an object. Both Uiharu and Kuroko are wearing green Judgement armbands as they're on duty.

"SATEN!" The three girls shouted in relief and excitement that their friend was okay.

"Guys! I'm glad you found me!" Saten says with a bit of joy.

"We were so worried about you! When Misaka told us what happened, we thought we lost you!" Uiharu cries in an almost dramatic way while hugging her best friend.

"Uiharu, I'm fine. Really." Saten says as she sweatdrops.

"We we're lucky that the explosion here tipped us off. On another note, what were you and Sissy thinking?! You two sneaked behind me and Uiharu's back just so you can do the ONE THING we told you not to do!" Kuroko questions them.

"Shirai, we really didn't mean it and we're sorry. I'm sorry. All we want was to try to help in any way we can. I know we're not Judgement officers like you and Uiharu are and I don't care what you do to me or Misaka, but we can't just stand by while people are hurt, missing, or worse. We're supposed to be in this together! As friends! And if you two can't see that, then your no better than the ones that keep others in the dark that resulted them in worse scenarios."

Saten's speech shocks her three friends, mostly towards Kuroko and Uiharu. Misaka smiles proudly that her friend is still standing at what she believes in.

"S-Saten… I don't know what to say. You're becoming more philosophical than Misaka is." Uiharu responds to what her friend said.

"Hey!" shouted Misaka, somewhat offended at what the Level 1 said.

Kuroko only sighs. "I guess there's no point in stopping you and Sissy anymore, is there?"

"Nope." Saten replies with a pop sound for the letter 'p'.

"Oh, alright. You and Sissy can get involved on one condition: promise me and Uiharu that you won't do something like this again. Okay?"

Saten and Misaka nod in response as of right now things are going to be different.

"Uh, Uiharu? Could let go of me?", the Level 0 asks. "I kinda need some breathing room right now."

Uiharu lets go of hugging her. "Sorry."

"Hey, Saten? Uh, where are you're clothes? And why are you… ummmm… naked?" Misaka asks with a blush on her face.

"Hm? Oh, that!" Saten chuckles nervously. "It's kind of a long story."

Saten decided to tell them what happened and to be honest, it didn't sit well with them.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT?!" The three shouted.

Uiharu was blushing red and nearly fainted. Kuroko and Misaka have the same red faces as Uiharu but are angry that these 'apes' - her sissy and Saten described to the her and her Judgement partner - would do something so savage. However, Misaka [with a red face] angrily snarled that they tried to do something to her friend (Not what you think, Zapper) and almost caused a blackout in the 19th School District.

Up on a rooftop elsewhere, Anon watches the 4 girls happy together and got kinda comedic when the pretty girl in the cloak told her friends what happened. Surprisingly, he smiles and happily chuckles at how well they get along.

However, this made him a bit lonely about not having friends. Sure, he's made a lot of good friends in the Grid, but zero friends in the Real World. "As if I'll ever make friends here." He says in his thoughts as he walks away into the night.

**A/N: Hey everyone! Tython055 here! This concludes the first chapter of TRON: Awakening. Stay tuned as I'll be giving you some TRON facts to clear up any confusions.**

**TRON FACTS:**

**1) The Suit Anon is wearing is based on the Rinzler suit design from TRON: Uprising (the one without a 'T' emblem).**

**2)The Blackguards and Recognizer in the chapter are based on the ones from Kevin Flynn's version of the Grid.**

**Leave feedback and tell me what you think of this chapter. Next one is coming soon.**

**END OF LINE**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**June 7****th****, 2029**

**School District 7**

The next morning came as a young man with spikey black hair is on his way to yet another school day, plus a remedial class after the normal classes because in the words of the other students, 'he's an idiot'. His name is Touma Kamijou, a Level 0 student with no powers whatsoever. At least, that's what mostly everyone thinks. You see, he has a mysterious ability within his right hand that can cancel out almost anything that's supernatural but at the cost of gaining more bad luck, making his life even more miserable. This ability is known as Imagine Breaker, and it has saved his life on multiple occasions. As he passes through a familiar park, he witnesses a very familiar middle schooler kicking a Certain Vending Machine. Turns out it's none other than Misaka, who just left her dorms a little earlier before Kuroko had a chance to wake up first and do something perverted on her again. Right now, she's kicking the same vending machine that stole her money without even dispensing a drink for her and she's not going to stop until that machine has dispense all the 10,000-yen worth of drinks.

Touma only sighs, not really in the mood to talk to her as he's running late for class. "She's probably not in a good mood right now. Let's leave Bug Zapper alone." He whispers under his breath. Just as he leaves, the Level 5 already spotted him.

"You!" Misaka shouts at the high schooler. "Are you kidding me?! You saw me and you don't even at least try to say hi for once?!"

"Rotten Luck!" he laments himself. He turns around and sees the same girl that always been trying to get him to fight her and always loses to him due to the very nature of his right hand. Though they no longer get into fights since she finally beat him (although it didn't feel like a victory to her near the end of the Othinus arc, which shattered more of her pride). "Please forgive this Kamijou for his own ignorance!"

Misaka groans at his stupid excuses. "Just because I no longer challenge you to a fight anymore, doesn't mean I don't want to talk to you! We've had this discussion before! Use your head, Idiot!"

"Seriously? Well, I should be going then. Wouldn't wanna be late. See ya, Zapper." He says, walking away.

"How many times do I have to tell you that my name is Mikoto Misaka?!" she shouts angrily at him for calling her that stupid nickname just as she aims her strongest shocks at him.

And with a fast reaction time, Touma quickly turns around and raises his hand to negate the attack leaving behind the sound of glass shattering.

"Seriously, I wasn't done talking to you yet." She sighs. "Have you read the rumor about people disappearing whenever they see strange yellow goo at night?"

"Uh, I think so. Why are you asking me this? It's just a rumor, right?"

"Because I'm worried about you. I know we just recently started dating and taking things slow, but I don't want to lose you. My friend Saten got kidnapped last night, and my friends and I nearly lost her."

"Saten? You mean that cheery girl I met during the Daihasei Festival last September? Is she okay?" asks Touma with a hint of concern.

"She's fine. We're lucky that warehouse fire tipped us off." She says earning a sigh of relief from the unlucky boy. "But still, just be careful at night. Okay? I nearly lost you back in England."

"You don't need to worry about me, Misaka. With this right hand, nothing can go wrong!" He proudly states.

"I hope so. I'll see you later, okay?"

"See ya later then, Zapper." He says and the two went their separate ways.

**A Certain High School**

Touma later arrives at his destination – the recently rebuilt A Certain High School - as the News Board explains last night's fire.

'Last night's fire in District 19 was unexpected as a few witnesses saw the explosion. Anti-Skill and Judgement are still investigating what caused the fire but have yet to find any evidence of who or what started it in the first place.'

The boy enters his classroom, where everyone was talking about the rumor that popped up last week. Some of the class's girls are afraid of going out at night while some of the guys think it's just nonsense spewed up by someone just to scare people. Just as he sits down in his assigned seat, he has an opinion on the rumor.

"Man, everyone is so talkative about this new rumor and most of them are too afraid to go out at night. Even Zapper seems so tensed about it. I don't know, maybe it is a prank. Who knows? Not that it's any of my business." He says to himself.

"Hey, Kami!" Motoharu Tsuchimakado – Touma's best friend – shouts, who then picks up a sly grin. "Everyone in the school is so worked up about this rumor going on recently. Even the girls. So why don't you try to be the hero and earn their affections?"

"Don't encourage him, dumbass! Like we need Kamijou to steal all the girls from us with his Kami-Disease!" Aogami Peirce – another friend of Touma - angrily states to the Siscon Sargeant.

"For the last time guys, I don't have a harem!" Touma denies, still tired of the same argument. "It's not like I even have time for a girl." Then again, he and Misaka are dating after all. They're just taking it slow and want it to be a secret.

Just before his friends could escalate the topic again, their teacher - Komoe-Sensei (often mistaken as a child due to her appearance) – walk into the room as class is about to start.

"Alright, everyone! Settle down. It's time we begin class and I'm sure a few of you have a long day, so let's get started."

**Sakugawa Middle School Front Gate**

Uiharu is walking out of the school checking her phone when her best friend Saten sneaks up from behind.

"Uiiiii-harrrr-ruuuuu!" Saten exclaims as she flips her best friend's skirt, as Uiharu feels a breeze underneath. However, Saten grins with no shame at all. "Hmmm. I see you're wearing striped panties today."

"WAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Uiharu screams. "S-Saten! Have you no shame?!"

"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to make sure you were wearing your panties." Saten casually waves her hand like it is no big deal to her.

Uiharu sighs at her friend's usual habit. "You're awful. You know that? Anyways, we have to head to the Judgement office and discuss about last night's events.

"We?" The rumor hunter asks.

"Yes, WE. As in you and Misaka. You two want to help, right? Then you have to come with me to the office to meet up with the others so you can tell us your story about what happened."

**Judgement Office - 177****th**** Branch, School District 7**

"And that's everything." Saten concludes her story to her friends.

"So those guys in black and orange turn into pixelated cubes whenever they're killed? Sounds like this is straight out of an old video game." Misaka speaks first with curiosity in her voice.

"And the one who dresses like them but with a different helmet and design saved your life and killed the men that stripped you? While I appreciate him for saving you, he's nothing more than a vigilante." Kuroko says, stating her opinion on the young man that saved Saten's life.

Meanwhile Uiharu and the 177th Branch's Chief – Mii Konori (a Level 3 Esper who has the ability of Clairvoyance) – are processing Saten's story. From what she told everyone, those guys in black called the Level 0 a 'Program', and keep saying the word 'rectify', and even those men turned into cubes whenever they are killed by her mysterious savior.

"To think that Saten's mystery man saved her from whatever those creeps were trying to do. She definitely has a knight coming to her rescue!" Uiharu dramatically fantasizes.

"Uiharu, your fantasies are becoming more insane every day." Kuroko deadpans at the flowerhead girl.

Saten blushes lightly at Uiharu's fantasy. "N-nonononono! It wasn't like that! He only saved me because he believed it was the right thing to do! Besides, I don't even know his name, what he looks like, and how he's connected to those creeps."

Misaka joins in to pay her back for the rumor hunter's attempts of teasing Misaka's possible relationship with a certain spikey haired boy, grinning in a mischievous way. "I don't know, Saten. It sounds like you're stuttering a bit and your face is a little red."

"Says the girl who always denies about her feelings for that boy Kamijou." The Level 0 roasts at the Level 5, as Misaka blushes madly as a response.

"H-He has nothing to do with this!" She argues back.

"Hey, I hate to break up this argument, but we need to get back to discussing what we're talking about." Konori butts in to get the other girls back on the current topic. "Right now, guessing isn't getting us anywhere. And those men in black could possibly be robots but we lack the evidence for any confirmation so far."

"Konori's right. From that unidentified ship Saten described to us somehow looks familiar. However, our superiors want us to apprehend this vigilante and bring him in for questioning since he possibly knows more about what's going this past week, maybe even about that strange goo and why people are disappearing at night." Kuroko agrees with the chief.

"But Kuroko, shouldn't we let the public know about this too? I mean that'll make everyone aware of the situation." Misaka asks.

"No. That'll only escalate things, and we don't want to cause a panic around them." Uiharu chimes in, stating that it's too risky.

"For now, we keep this only between Judgement and Anti-Skill. Even Misaka and Saten." Konori concludes.

"Us?" Both the Railgun and the skirt-flipper asked in confusion.

"Yes. Our superiors gave us the go ahead to involve two civilians that survived a kidnapping. Especially since you two can handle yourselves." Kuroko confirms. Unfortunately, her perverted antics started kicking in. "Which means I can actually protect my Sissy from those barbarians that would even think of stripping her!"

Thankfully, Misaka punches here on the head to bring her back into reality.

"Let's not get carried away, Kuroko. The last thing I need is some pervert like you trying do something like that back when we were punished last year by cleaning the school's pool." Misaka states with an angry glare.

"Owwwww…" Kuroko whines. "You're so mean!"

**(Timeskip)**

Since Misaka and Saten don't begin helping Judgement till tomorrow after school, the two girls decided to leave their friends to go back to work in the office to prepare a strategy meeting in the 177th Branch's briefing room. As they walk down the streets of District 7, the two are wondering what they should do in the meantime before they begin helping with the investigation.

"I wonder what we should do till they're ready to call for us." Wonders Misaka, not sure what she and Saten should do. Then, an idea hit her. "I know! Let's go to the arcade! All this talk of gaming sure wants me to play them."

"That's a good idea, Misaka!" Saten replies with a smile.

Just as they are about to head for their destination, they hear a voice complaining. Turning their heads to the front they see a young man around Misaka's age with jet black hair and brown eyes. He wears a white t-shirt and a brown leather jacket. Right now, he's ranting to himself about how he can't even find his way to the arcade.

"Damn it. I can't believe I took the wrong direction. Now I can't find a way to the arcade. Jeez, can this get any worse?" The young man – who happens to be our hero Anon Flynn – complains.

"Excuse me?" A girl's voice asked towards him.

Anon turns around and sees the same two girls he recognizes last night while in disguise.

"Why did I have to go and say that?" He mentally asks. "Man, what a jinx."

**A/N: Leave feedback and a follow.**

**END OF LINE**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: From now on, any dialogue in italics are identified as a character's thoughts and any titles within the story are in bold. That's all for now. TTYL.**

**Chapter 3**

"Excuse me?" Misaka asks.

The boy – Anon – turns around to face the two girls he recognized.

"Can I help you?" he asks.

"We were wondering if you're having trouble with something." She replies.

"Well you see, I kinda have gotten lost in this District and can't find the arcade I'm heading to."

"The arcade? Well you should be in luck because my friend and I are heading there too. Want to tag along till we arrive there?"

Anon thinks for a moment and then simply replies with a smile. "Sure, why not? I'd appreciate it. Wouldn't want to get lost again."

"Great! Hey Saten!"

Saten was a bit zoned out for the moment taking in at the boy's face. He appears to be Caucasian with jet black hair and brown eyes. And he appears to be cute looking in her opinion. Wait, cute looking?! It's not like she has an instant crush after all!

"Uh, Earth to Saten?" Misaka asks waving her hand in front of the long-haired girl.

Saten comes to her senses and lightly blushes in embarrassment. "S-Sorry! Just zoned out a bit, that's all."

The boy simply chuckles. "It's fine. No need to be embarrassed about it. Well, lead the way then, ladies."

And the three set off for the arcade together. As they were walking, the girls decided to introduce themselves.

"Oh, that's right! We forgot to introduce ourselves! I'm Mikoto Misaka and this is my friend, Ruiko Saten."

"As in the Railgun?" Anon asks with an eyebrow raised. "Huh. It's an honor to meet you, Misaka. I heard you're pretty famous in this city along with the other Level 5s."

Misaka was flattered by the compliment. He seems to be polite and not at all hyped for whatever reason.

"I-It's nothing! I get that a lot." She chuckles sheepishly.

"And what about you? Saten was it?" He asks the other girl.

"Who, me? Nah, I'm just a Level 0. Thanks for asking by the way." Saten answers with her own smile. "What's your story? You look like a foreigner. Are you an Esper?"

"Not exactly. I'm just visiting the city, that's all. I'm surprised the technology here is 30 years ahead even though the first iPhone was technically invented by Apple. N-No offense."

"None taken. To be honest when I first came to Academy City to become an Esper, I was surprised too." Saten says, not really offended at all.

"Same here." Misaka joins in. "I kinda feel bad for the outside world that came up with newer ideas first, but somehow Academy City always beats them to it."

"Or it could be the other way around. Like that one rumor about Academy City having spies steal the original creator's ideas and designs." The boy theorizes.

"Hold on, you read up on urban legends or rumors too?!" Saten asks with a hint of excitement, causing Anon to sweatdrop.

"_Well… she seems a bit cheery about it." He mentally says._

"I think your scaring him a bit with your fangirling." Misaka butts in to calm her friend down.

"Well… I mean… sure?" he answers to her, albeit in a confused expression as Saten's face was a little too close to his.

"Awesome! I get to meet another person who actually has the same hobby as I have!" She exclaims as she moves her face away from his.

The boy was able to regain his composure and immediately change the subject as they have arrived at the arcade. "H-Hey what do you know! We're here!"

As soon as they entered the arcade it was time for them to part ways.

"Thanks for letting me tag along with you two." Anon says.

"No problem. It was nice to meet another rumor hunter like myself." Saten says.

"You too. Well, it was nice meeting you two. I hope you have a great time here." he says as he walks away to a different part of the place.

"See ya later/Bye!" Both girls said with a wave and a smile. Unfortunately, they forgot one other thing.

"Oh crap, I forgot to ask what his name was!" Saten panics after seeing the boy run off.

"Maybe next time, Saten. I'm sure you can ask him for his phone number if you know what I'm saying." Misaka teases.

"M-Misaka! It's not like that, I told you!" she blushes again. "_Great. This is what I get for teasing her about being with Kamijou._" _The girl mentally says with a sigh._

"Wanna play that same game again? I'm ready for a rematch, and this time I'll win!" Misaka asks with determination to beat her friend's punching machine high score.

Saten snaps back into reality and accepts the rematch as they walk to their favorite game. "Take your best shot!"

**2 Hours Later…**

"Woohoo!" Saten exclaims with pride and joy as she beats Misaka's high score yet again. "And another win for me!"

"Again?!" Misaka groans in exasperation.

"Jeez, Misaka. I guess you have a lot of bad luck in winning one game today." She grins jokingly.

"Rotten luck." Misaka says, quoting from the unlucky boy she's dating. "_Oh, come on! Now I'm saying that Idiot's catchphrase?!_"

Just before she could have another go, the girls hear commotion going on near them. As they went to check it out, they see a small crowd of people watching someone play some very old game and he's beating the game's highest score which was 599,000 points! And now he's surpassed that! Can you believe that?!

"Hey, isn't that the guy we met earlier?" Saten wonders.

"Looks like it. He's got a small crowd to begin with." Misaka answers, noticing that the boy they ran into earlier is the same one.

The girls got closer as best they could, and they see Anon in the middle of the highest level of the game. From what they see, the gameplay looks old and appears to be a first-person shooter. However, Anon isn't playing as a character, rather a tank shooting down ships in some kind of retro-styled computer maze. The crowd gets excited as the boy's high score is climbing, and just as the last ship comes into his sights, he has difficulty shooting it but finally destroyed it as he has beaten the last level with the newest high score ever recorded on the game. The crowd cheers and everyone started talking about it.

"Awesome, dude!" one teen said.

"You're the best!" says another.

"2,800,000 points! Holy shit!" a third shouts. "How'd you do it?"

Anon simply grins and does hand poses to fit his family quote. "It's all in the wrist! All. In. The wrist!"

The crowd laughs with joy and soon, everyone disperses and went about their business. Just as he is about to leave, he immediately sees Saten and Misaka standing there with impressed looks.

"That was some fancy shooting." Saten compliments.

"Oh! It's you two again. I take it you're having a great time here?"

"Yeah. Though, Saten keeps beating my high scores for some reason." Misaka grumbles.

Saten chuckles. "Like what he said, it's all in the wrists."

Anon laughs at the joke she made. "Good one, Saten!"

"By the way, we never got your name." she mentions. Anon stops laughing and deduces that he didn't give them his name.

"Oh shit. Now that you mentioned it, I completely forgotten earlier." He outstretches his hand to Saten and shake their hands. "Anon. My name is Anon."

Saten gives him a funny expression. "H-Hold on, your name is Anon? Like the pun for Anonymous?" And then she snickers which turns into giggling and in turn becomes laughter. Misaka processes his name and suddenly gets it and joins in on the joke.

"S-Seriously?! A-Anonymous?! W-What kind of name is that?!" Misaka laughs harder and after the laughter died down, they stopped. "That was a good joke. But really, what's your real name?"

The answer they got was a deadpan glare that literally says, 'That wasn't a joke'. This got the girls to sweat nervously as they realized that they unintentionally insulted him.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry! I had no idea that was literally your real name!" Saten apologizes.

"Uh, yeah! Me too!" apologizes Misaka as well.

He simply chuckles at them freaking out a bit. "It's all right. To be honest, I find it funny too. But the name does sound badass, don't you think?"

They stop to take a moment and soon see that his name does sound like the name of a warrior.

"W-Well, it does sound pretty cool when you put it that way."

"Yeah. Thanks." Anon says. He then looks at his iPhone and sees it's almost school curfew. "Look, I gotta go now. Besides, you two must have curfew here in Academy City so I won't take up all your time. Later."

He walks out of the arcade, leaving the two girls alone.

"That was weird. It seems he was in a hurry or something."

"Well it's not really our business, Misaka. And he's right about curfew, so we should leave soon."

"Just a sec, Saten. I want to know what game he was playing."

Turning around, both Misaka and Saten looked at the title of the game with the background looking oddly familiar.

"**Space**… **Paranoids**? I never heard of that game before."

"Me neither." Saten says, not familiar with the title. "Wait… That ship in the background. Isn't that the…?"

"_Hey, that's the same ship that took you away last night!" Misaka finishes her question. "But does that mean…? No, that's crazy! Something from a video game can't just magically come to life! Then again, magic could be involved. No, I highly doubt that would be the case and I don't know a lot about that side. Maybe I should ask that idiot for help. No, no, no! He'll just drag himself into this and get hurt again! Argh, I don't know what to do!"_

"Misaka, take a look at this." She gets her friend's attention snapping Misaka out of her thoughts.

"Huh? What is it, Saten? Did you find something?"

"Kinda. Look at the name of the company that developed this game. It says 'ENCOM'. Do you know anything about a name like that?

Misaka could only shake her head as she doesn't know. "Sorry, I never heard of a corporation like that either."

Saten could only sigh in disappointment. Not at Misaka, but at herself because they still haven't found any leads to her kidnappers. Unless… "Wait a minute! What if were looking at this the wrong way?"

"Huh?"

"Think about it. What if instead of hunting down the kidnappers, we learn what we know about ENCOM? They might have some of the answers we need."

"Saten, that's a great idea! Why didn't I think of that?" Misaka says, beamed with excitement that they might have a potential lead besides the vigilante, of course. Not wasting anytime, Misaka takes out her Gekota phone and contacts Uiharu.

"Hey, Uiharu."

"Oh, Misaka! Do you need something?" Uiharu asks on the other line of the call.

"Yeah. Hey, listen. I think Saten and I found another possible lead that might need to be look into."

"Really? That was quick."

"It sure was. Anyways, can you and Kuroko look up on a company called ENCOM?"

"Um, sure! Why?"

"Well you see, we're at the arcade and this really old game called '**Space Paranoids**' had a background of the same ship that snatched Saten away and strangely, the game itself was made by that company."

"Hmm. Looks like it might take a while for me to get everything we know about ENCOM. Shirai and I are working late, so you and Saten will have to wait till tomorrow after the strategy meeting."

"That's okay. We can wait. Besides, it's gonna be curfew soon. Tell Kuroko that I'll let the Dorm Mistress know that she's working late again in Judgement. See ya tomorrow."

"G'night, Misaka." Uiharu says before ending the call.

Misaka closes her own phone and sighs before turning around toward Saten. "Well, looks like it'll be a while till they can get any information on ENCOM, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow."

Saten nods in understanding. "Right. Well, I gotta head back to my dorm anyway. See ya tomorrow!" She waves as she walks out of the arcade.

"Okay! Be safe!" Misaka replies, waving back at her.

**(Time skip)**

Saten had finally made it back to her dorm, and she was really exhausted after a long day.

"Oh man, all that fun made me tuckered out." she says out loud after taking her shoes off.

The girl then went to the kitchen to cook up some dinner. When the food was ready, she then gave thanks for the food and went right on digging. After dinner, she then took off her school clothes and entered the bathroom for a nice warm shower. As she showers, she recalls yesterday's events.

"_When those creeps came out of nowhere, they immediately held me prisoner. I was confused at what they were trying to do to me and why they brought me to that former warehouse. Then, they began stripping me, leaving me completely naked. I was so scared, embarrassed, and humiliated. Suddenly, that mystery man saved me as he killed those men. It's like he's a knight and I'm an imprisoned princess, yearning to be free from evil's grasp."_

She exits the shower to dry and comb her long hair. She was too tired to put on pajamas, so she put on a simple black bra and thong panties that reveal her attractive bottom and slender legs.

"_But I have so many questions for him, and yet he doesn't want to be seen by the authorities or anyone else! So, whatever his story is, I want to know his identity and learn about him more. That is… if he'll ever appear at night again."_

Saten then gets in her bed and turns out the light and moments later, she finally falls asleep.

**A/N: Leave a follow and a review.**

**Next Time: The investigation officially begins! With Judgement supporting Anti-Skill in patrolling in teams all over Academy City, the Railgang is left to find the vigilante on their own and learn about ENCOM. Unbeknownst to them, Anon IS the supposed 'vigilante' and he faces the return of a forgotten enemy, connected to the sightings of the strange goo. **

**END OF LINE**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Bold used in dialogue is now identified as phone calls on one end when the character in person is talking on his/her end to the other character on his/her other end.**

**Chapter 4**

**June 8****th****, 2029**

**District 7, Judgement Office – Branch 177****th****, Briefing Room**

It was supposed to be a normal afternoon like any other. However, it didn't as more people have disappeared during the middle of last night. Right now, this really irked Saten a lot because they still didn't have answers, only theories. Hopefully, today will be the day she and her friends get them whenever 'he' shows up. Anyway, the reason she was walking alone to the Judgement Office was because Uiharu had to leave school a bit earlier than expected with the case still going on. Several minutes later, she reached her destination and entered the building. After walking up the stairs, she reached the other side of the building and found Uiharu and Misaka waiting for her outside of the briefing room.

"Hey guys." Saten greeted her friends. "Where's Konori and Shirai?"

"They're inside with the rest of the other 177th Branch members and are still waiting for us." Uiharu briefly explained.

"Then let's not keep everyone waiting." Misaka said, wanting to focus on the meeting.

The three girls entered the room to find the other members of the 177th including Shirai and the Chief herself, Konori. Seeing the last three to come in so they can start on the meeting, Konori begins to speak as she uses the projector connected to her laptop to show images relating to the case.

"For the past week, people began to vanish off the streets in School District 7. As you are all aware, strange goo has also been sighted in alleys or on buildings. However, two witnesses have survived an attempt of going missing, in which our superiors have insisted in enlisting these two, who are here today, to provide civilian support until this case is solved."

The 177th members (not counting Uiharu, Konori, and Kuroko) began to whisper among themselves as they were getting help from the one and only Railgun while ignoring Saten since they believed she wasn't famous. Misaka was a little flattered at the commotion she heard but tried to ignore it. Saten, however, didn't really care if they started talking about her or not.

"Alright, alright. That's enough gossiping. As I said before, these two are here to help because of what they have experienced. One of the witnesses – Ruiko Saten — was indeed kidnapped by unknown men in black with orange-lit circuitry."

"But Chief, if she was taken by these guys, then why didn't they go for the Railgun as well?" asked a member of the 177th.

_"Yeah. Come to think of it, they didn't take me prisoner when they took Saten away." Misaka thought aloud._

"Misaka wasn't their target. It seems that the people that's been listed missing so far are Level 0 Espers. Thanks to what Saten has told us, she was rescued by a vigilante that dons similar attire but a different helmet and suit pattern. Right now, Anti-Skill and Judgement are to find and bring him in for questioning as he might have some of the answers that we need." Konori answered. "And to those who are wondering, no. Video footage nor pictures of the suspects as the cameras all over Academy City went dead silent during the nights they went missing."

"What about the other School Districts? Have there been sightings of the goo or the men in black so far?" Another member asks.

"No. However, Anti-Skill and the other Judgement branches are only being tasked with keeping a lookout for sightings of the goo and contain it until further notice. As for the 177th Branch, we're assigned to bring in the vigilante, even if his intentions are good or not. That's all the intel we have for now. Dismissed." Konori concludes as the 177th members leave to begin their assignments.

A little while later in the small office where the girls usually hang out whenever Kuroko and Uiharu worked, Uiharu informed her friends on what she found out about a certain corporation.

"So far, this all I could pull up about ENCOM." Uiharu informed her friends.

"What did you find?" Misaka asked.

"According to the information I gathered on the internet, ENCOM's an American multi-national computer technology corporation that developed many important programs and technologies since the 1980s. Originally, the company was mainly focusing on defense systems during the Cold War, but quickly began focusing more on video games after the amazing success and profits produced by games such as **'Space Paranoids'** and another game called **'TRON'**. These two were ENCOM's bestselling video games in its time." Uiharu summarized her research to them.

"Okay, but how is ENCOM connected to those guys in black and that ship?" Saten questioned impatiently.

"I have no idea, but that's when I found something interesting." Uiharu shrugged, having no real answer. She then brought up a file that she 'borrowed' from the ENCOM mainframe. The girls were now looking at the file's image of a man with a dark brown mullet hair style and blue eyes. He appeared to be in his late 30's and looked somewhat charming.

"Who's this ape?" Kuroko inquired, resulting in her friends glaring at her.

"Kuroko! Don't say that!" Misaka exclaimed in annoyance at her roommate for calling the male gender 'apes'.

Ignoring what the Teleporter said, Uiharu continued. "The file reads 'Kevin Flynn'. It says that in 1982, he became CEO and owner of ENCOM after exposing an employee for stealing his work on the games he made."

"Stolen?" Saten asked curiously.

"Yes. By some guy name Edward Dillinger, Sr. who founded his own company that's infamously called Dillinger Systems. Anyways, when Flynn took ownership in 1982, the stocks skyrocketed, and for a short time became the best video game company in the world."

"Maybe he can help us, Uiharu. Since he developed the games and all."

"Uh, uh. Hate to tell you Saten, but he mysteriously disappeared in 1989."

"Hold on... Disappeared?" Misaka raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"No one knows. Though not long after the untimely death of his wife in 1985 and prior to his disappearance, he profoundly changed. His new behavior became more erratic as he started to promote his vision of a – and I quote – _'a digital frontier to reshape the human condition.'_"

This gave Uiharu and her friends some suspicious questions. What did Flynn mean by a digital frontier that could reshape humanity's current state? Putting that aside, they found a bit more info on his file.

"Wow. I didn't realize he wrote a book, too." Saten admitted in awe. Taking a closer look at the book's image on Uiharu's laptop, she read both the title and the synopsis out loud so that the others could hear. "**'The Digital Frontier: Mapping the Other Universe**_. Never before have the possibilities of technology been so fully realized as they are in Kevin Flynn's tour-de-force, The Digital Frontier. Sentient Computers, virtual realism, algorithmic consciousness – you will feel as if you are stepping further into the future with every page you turn, testing the limits of your intellect as you accelerate into a digital wonderland.'_"

Kuroko simply snorted at this. "Another world? That's impossible, even by Academy City standards. What do you think, Sissy?"

The Level Five Electro-Master could only ponder of the possibility of another world inside a computer. "A Digital Frontier? Is that even possible, even if Flynn believes in what he thinks?"

"Something wrong, Misaka?" Saten asks her friend in concern. Uiharu and Kuroko were wondering that as well, seeing Misaka as if she believed in Flynn's words.

"Sorry, just lost in my own thoughts." Misaka reassured her friends. "Have you guys ever wondered if there's a different world that exists?"

Saten held her chin for a minute, thinking about Misaka's question. "Hmm, that's what I always wondered. Though, I'm not entirely sure. Wait… Those men… Could they be…?"

"Come on, you two! You're not suggesting that they're from a digital world and somehow entered the real world?"

"But think about it, Shirai! Their weapons, that ship, that underground facility in that warehouse I've never seen before, and the vigilante, it can't be impossible! Let's not forget that this is Academy City; the City of Science! A place where the impossible is possible!" Saten argued.

"Saten's got a point, Kuroko. This is something we've never seen before. And right now, we have no answers to what's going on, just theories." Misaka said, agreeing with the Level 0.

Uiharu also pitched in. "Come on, Shirai. I'm sure they have their reasons in believing in what they witnessed."

Kuroko only sighed in defeat as Misaka and Saten made a good argument. Those two can almost be like sisters sometimes. "Fine… Another argument I can't win over."

"Why don't we take a break? All this hypothesizing is making my brain hurt." Uiharu suggests, rubbing her head. "And this is getting us nowhere."

"Sure, Uiharu. What do you have in mind?" Saten asked her friend, relieved that they could stop for now.

"Well, I have these four tickets to some conference I won in a contest." The Level 1 explained while showing them the tickets.

"Hey... These aren't just ordinary tickets. They're tickets to ENCOM's first public conference within Academy City!" Misaka deduces.

"Y-yeah. Turns out I forgot I won these not long ago and when I began looking into the company, I was really surprised."

"Sounds like this is the start of another adventure." Saten grinned in excitement.

"Don't get too surprised. It's probably one of those boring conferences that is mostly politics." Uiharu deadpanned.

Saten could only sigh for a bit before smiling. "That's disappointing. But still, it can't be THAT boring if we don't go."

"Speaking of going, when and where does the conference start?" asks Kuroko.

"Tonight at 9pm, at the Nature Park in School District 22."

"I'm sure the Dorm Mistress won't mind that we're out a bit late after school curfew." Misaka smirked.

Kuroko groaned at the mentioning of that scary lady. "Don't remind me, Sissy. I really don't want a twisted neck again."

Misaka patted her friend's back to cheer her up. "Relax, Kuroko. Let's have a bit of fun with Uiharu and Saten for a change. What else could go wrong?"

**(Time skip)**

**Nature Park, Third Underground Level – School District 22**

"I immediately regret in saying what I said earlier." Misaka complained with a facepalm.

Three hours earlier, the girls had plenty of time to prepare for the public conference as Uiharu and Saten went back to their dorms to change into normal clothes, while Kuroko and Misaka lied to their Dorm Mistress that they had a late meeting at Judgement since Kuroko's superiors were needing Misaka's help in a case the Teleporter is working on. Luckily, the woman fell for the ruse and allowed the two Tokiwadai students to go. The four girls met up at Joseph's for an early dinner so that they could arrive at District 22 without problems. By the time they finished eating and took a bus to District 22's 3rd underground level, they were shocked to see that there was a lot of people attending the meeting and it became a little too crowded for them.

"Wow! I wasn't expecting that there would be so many people here!" Saten said in shock.

"It is a public conference after all." Uiharu reminded her. "Besides, this is ENCOM's very first public conference within Academy City."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Academy City made attempts to form a partnership with ENCOM after Flynn's son died in a car accident but was declined so many times. Instead, the company proposed a trading alliance into software programming products to keep their stockholders intact, which they are publicly beginning today."

"Interesting." Misaka commented.

"Still, why would Academy City step up security for a public conference?" Kuroko questions. "Seems a bit off."

"It probably has to do with the recent kidnappings so far." Misaka theorizes. "Let's all be on our guard for now. I don't like this."

"Same here, Sissy. All this security is making me a bit edgy tonight." Kuroko and the others agreed.

Just as they are waiting for the event to start, Saten notices Anon – in which she met yesterday – talking to an older man before the elder person went a different direction.

Uiharu taps on her best friend's shoulder, getting Saten's attention. "What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Saten lies.

But Uiharu wasn't buy it and looks at what she's looking at. "Who's that? You know him, Saten?"

Saten calmly denies this as her cheeks slowly turn pink. "Him? No, I was looking at something else."

Kuroko notices this and joins in on the new subject. "Then why are your cheeks turning a little pink?"

"Come on, Saten, we should at least introduce him to Uiharu and Kuroko." Misaka slyly smiles with a wink.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about, Misaka." The Level 0 stutters but her friends took notice of this.

"*gasps* I know! He's must be so charming to you!" Uiharu guesses with stars in her eyes. "He could be your boyfriend!"

"You too, Uiharu?! It's not like that!" She covers her face in embarrassment.

"If you're so embarrassed about it, why don't you and Misaka introduce him to me and Kuroko?" Uiharu asks before she starts pulling her friend's arm and drags the shy girl to the boy's location. "Come on!"

Saten starts protesting that she doesn't know him just so she could avoid a misunderstanding between her and him, but Uiharu wouldn't budge as the two - along with Misaka and Kuroko not falling behind- continue towards where Anon's at.

**A Few Seconds Earlier…**

After Anon wished his old friend good luck as he went to prepare his speech, our hero heard a familiar girl's protests as it got closer and closer to him. Turning around, he saw that Saten was being dragged towards him by another girl with what looked like Misaka and a fourth girl not too far behind.

"Um, hi." Saten greeted with a nervous wave as her cheeks were still pink.

"Saten and Misaka? What are you two doing here?"

"What? No hello?" Misaka asked sarcastically while crossing both her arms.

"W-well, I mean yeah, it's great to see you two, but damn! We really gotta stop running into each other." Anon playfully accused.

Kuroko stepped in front of him with her arm stretched out, to which he responded by shaking her hand. "The name's Kuroko Shirai. I see you already met Sissy." After shaking hands, Kuroko formed a dark aura around her with a creepy smile, making Anon feel slightly unnerved. "Just so you know, if you make a move on my one and only, I won't hesitate to dump your body in the dumpster."

"KUROKO!" Misaka exclaimed angrily as she whammed her on the head, leaving a bruise behind. "There's no way in hell I swing that way like you do!"

Anon, however, didn't even flinch at the Telporter's threat. "Why would I make a move on her if I just met her yesterday? Besides, I doubt she's single and could possibly be dating. Plus, she's not really my type."

This caused Misaka to freeze up a bit thinking he deduced her secret, but she realized he still doesn't know so she mentally sighed with relief.

Uiharu then stepped up towards him and bowed slightly. "Kanzari Uiharu. I'm Saten's best friend."

"Nice to meet you too." He smiled. "I hope we get along just fine."

Uiharu returned the smile with her own. "Me too. You already met Saten, so when we saw you, we wanted to really meet you."

"That so?" Anon wondered. "Well, my name is Anon."

Uiharu and Kuroko were dumbfounded with his name and began to laugh. Anon just gave them a blank stare, not amused.

Saten stepped in to defend his name and gave a deadpanned look. "He's not joking. That's literally his name."

The two off-duty Judgement officers stop laughing and gave a weirded-out look of their own.

"Oh. Uh, sorry." Uiharu apologized with a nervous chuckle.

"Please forgive us for insulting you?" Kuroko asked in apology, still confused by the boy's name.

"It's fine. I'm not holding grudges anyway." Anon said, forgiving them. "And yes, my name does sound heroic and badass."

"I bet it still does." Uiharu commented jokingly.

"Yeah." Anon mumbled. "Still does."

The girls didn't notice him mumbling, so to him, that was a relief.

"So… how old are you exactly?" Saten asked, no longer blushing.

"15." Anon simply answered.

"EH?!" the girls shouted.

"B-But you look-!"

"Like a high schooler? I could say the same thing to you, Saten." He smirked.

Saten ended up blushing again. She didn't want to admit it, but she really did have the looks of a high schooler even if her perfect chest size isn't big like other girls'.

Uiharu could only see how her best friend was reacting around him. Slyly smiling, Uiharu decided to help her out. "You know Saten, you can always invite him to hang out with us. That way, we can all get to know him more."

Before Saten could answer, however, the five teens heard the announcement over the speakers that the speech was just starting.

"I should get going now. Nice talking to you, girls." Anon informed them before parting ways. As he walked away, he stopped and looked back at Saten, smiling at her. "Hope we get to see each other again soon, Saten."

And like that, he stepped out of their sight.

"Saten, I totally ship you two." Uiharu teased her friend, making the poor girl feel embarrassed.

"Oh, look! The speech is about to start! Come on!" Saten announced immediately to change the topic before things could get more embarrassing for her, walking towards the large crowd.

"Saten!" Uiharu complained as she was being left behind. Chuckling to themselves, Misaka and Kuroko followed them.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Anon hid behind a corner where the cameras wouldn't see him. He tapped his watch and brought forth his disc. He then held it over his back as the jacket revealed a piece of armor meant for holding the disc. As soon as he attached the disc, his normal clothing transformed into his suit and his helmet materialized and clamped around his head. Unlike his stealth suit, this one originally belonged to his predecessor, a security program that sacrificed himself to save the ISOs from complete extinction, in which his mother was the last pure ISO in existence. Unfortunately, the system monitor was forgotten by the inhabitants of the Grid after his demise. The suit had more circuitry lights and two circular lights on the waist, two on the back of the gloved hands, and two around the shoulder/collar bone area. His helmet was also less pointy on the chin area and had slightly more circuitry along with a one-way full helmet visor that the wearer could see through while wearing it as others couldn't see his face on the outside. (AN: Anon's suit and helmet from TRON: Evolution)

Wasting no time, Anon discreetly used his athletic skills to climb a building close to the Nature Park and crouched on the rooftop's edge, watching his longtime family friend and godfather give out his opening speech. However, despite the seemingly peaceful night, he had to keep a watch and an ear out for anything suspicious if the public press conference went wrong. Something he hoped would never happen, but then again, he had been wrong before.

**Meanwhile…**

"From ENCOM International, please welcome, Alan Bradley."

The audience applauded as Alan walked on stage towards the podium. He was in his late 60's and had white grayish hair and wore his iconic glasses back when he was younger. He even looked like a man in his 40's despite his old age. The audience silenced themselves so that he could speak.

"Thank you for coming today. Welcome to ENCOM's first public press conference here in Academy City. Before we get started, I'd like to say a few words regarding to the ones that made this company to what it is today and the two men who we have our thanks."

Alan paused for a moment trying to regain his composure as he recalled a few certain events in his life. Ever since the unexpected death of Sam Flynn, it was his duty to continue the legacy Sam's father started before he vanished. Most importantly, doing what he could to watch over Sam's secret wife and son Anon, even if they were far away from him. Three years after that, however, the mother was mysteriously murdered, and Anon himself disappeared. That is, until seven years later he came back, but only for a little while because no one was supposed to know about the existence of Sam having a son. If someone were to learn about this, he would be called in for questioning since he was Sam's guardian and father figure. Not only that, but this would get Academy City's attention and learn that Anon's mother wasn't from their world and would use their power to find the boy and attain his genetic code.

What's so special about it? Twenty years ago, just a few weeks after Alan became chairman of ENCOM's board, Sam introduced Quorra to him and told him about what really happened to his father Kevin Flynn and that the 'Miracle' Flynn himself told him about back in '89 was her. It was a lot to take in but soon he believed him, promising to keep her existence a secret. This was because ever since she came into the real world as a flesh and blood human, her digital code housed algorithms and formulas that could unlock everything that humanity knows about in science, medicine, philosophy, religion, and even about quantum teleportation. This also meant that Quorra is immune to all of Earth's known and unknown diseases and her code could be used to develop cures to end all of them. And now that applied to the ISO-human hybrid, Anon. However, Alan believed that humanity wasn't ready for this kind of knowledge and feared that they would bring extinction on themselves if his code was misused for selfish gain. And he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.

Putting aside those thoughts, Alan began his speech once more.

"For nearly 60 years, ENCOM had its ups and downs. In 1982, Kevin Flynn, a close friend of mine, changed the world that we see and believed in forever. However, that changed three years later when his wife passed away in an accident, and he wasn't the same man that I used to know back in the day. Still, that didn't mean he gave up in his beliefs and his genius inspired others. And he saw worlds beyond what we believed to be possible. But in 1989, Flynn disappeared, and that future was taken from us."

The chairman of ENCOM stops again for another moment and speaks again.

"Flynn possessed... an undying commitment to his friends and family. All of us were wondering where he was. But as the years passed, the voices asking what really happened that day fell silent. Flynn was gone. Not dead but gone. So, we needed a new way to reach others, and we needed to think like Kevin Flynn. And then... he came back, just a little younger, in the form of his son Sam. Sam Flynn inspired us and every year he'd find a new way to infuriate ENCOM's board with his pranks. He started doing work the people had given up many years ago. And the search began once again. This time, millions of people joined. Today, he has brought us closer to him and his father by reclaiming ENCOM 20 years ago. And with the unexpected death of Sam, we still pushed forward and never gave up. And although we may have not found Kevin Flynn… Flynn still lives in all of us in who want to believe in him. So, starting today, I would like to announce that ENCOM will be trading its products to Academy City and continue this new opportunity for the future of not only for the citizens of this city… but also for the rest of the world. Thank you and have a wonderful evening." Concludes Alan as the large crowd gave a rousing applause once more and the older man walks off stage.

**Back to where Anon is watching from above…**

"That was an impressive speech, Alan." Anon congratulates to his godfather through his helmet's comm on an encrypted channel.

**"Eh, I wouldn't call it impressive, Anon." Alan dismissed casually.**

Anon shook his head in disagreement. "Come on, you did well. At least you gave a bit of inspiration to most of the people attending this conference and had it broadcast around the world. Give yourself credit for once, will you? I think Lora would've been proud of you. Grandfather too."

**Alan sighed. "Yeah… If only the people knew about the truth of why your grandfather's never coming back. They still think he's alive. Depends if they believe he can live longer." He mumbled the latter.**

"Alan, you KNOW why we can't do that. If they find out, they'll be onto both of us. Not to mention the higher-ups of this city will take an interest in the digital space for their own agenda that could destroy the lives of innocents. You're the only family I have left, and I made a promise that so long as I'm alive, NO ONE is getting their hands on my DNA map. This is for everyone's safety, Alan."

**"But how long are we going to keep this up? Sooner or later, they'll learn everything. All I wanted for you was to have a normal life and possibly a family. I saw how you interacted with those girls earlier." Alan hinted.**

"What girls?" Anon ask nervously. "I don't know what you're implying."

**Alan chuckled. "Quit playing coy and be honest. You should make friends for a change."**

"I barely know them. Even if I should, I risk exposing my identity and endangering them. And everyone still believes that Dad never had children to continue the legacy. Luckily for me, I don't have any records at all, and I want to keep it that way until something eats me alive. THE END."

**"Look, I can't be there to guide you forever and I'm almost in my 70's. It's time that you stop brooding and be a normal teenager for once in your life. If not for me, do it for your parents. They would've wanted that for you."**

The hybrid took a moment at what Alan suggested. Anon knew he couldn't remain non-existent forever and the world would find out. Sighing, he spoke to his godfather again while gripping his hand into a fist. "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to stay the way I am now. It's not that I don't want a normal life, but I just can't. Not with what's been happening these last few years. The Occupation have already repurposed the missing people back in the U.S. for whatever plan they have. If they discover my existence, they'll go after those I love to get to me. And from what I know, they're not exactly a fan of my family name."

It's true. They still saw in their eyes that his grandfather broke their promise to create a utopia on the Grid together in favor of the ISOs. This sparked their belief in perfection and vowed to wipe out anything that's imperfect, starting with the ISOs themselves.

"That's why I'm cleaning up the mess my grandfather started all those years ago. To end a nightmare that has plagued me ever since my parents were murdered one at a time and had left me to die with scars that'll never heal. And if I can never have a normal life, so be it. But I will not let others suffer under their tyrannical rule and take humanity's free will away."

**"He didn't know they would turn on him and commit genocide on your mother's people! You're the last of his legacy and whether you want to admit it or not, you wouldn't have existed if he didn't unintentionally let them become to what they are now." Alan argued.**

Before Anon can argue further, he hears screaming in the crowd as they scatter and run.

"Alan, what's going on over there?"

**"Kid, get your ass over here, and stop whatever this thing is and fast!"**

Not wasting any time, he shut off his comm-link and saw who was disrupting the public event.

"What the hell?"

Stunned by seeing who it was, the ISO-hybrid detached his disc from his back and jumped down toward this attacker.

**Two minutes earlier…**

A mysterious figure just appeared from above out of nowhere and landed on the ground as the people attending scattered in fear. He had a black hooded cape that covered the left side of his body and wore a face mask underneath the yellow outlined hood in which his face visor is a one-way see-through. The rest of his body was clad in a black suit but instead of circuitry lights they appeared to be cracks all over it with a sickly yellow glow. As he looked around a bit, he grabbed a nearby victim and held him up in the air with a chokehold.

"GREETINGS!" said the figure with an echoey, sickly voice, grinning underneath his mask. And with a firm touch, he infected him as an identity disc appeared on his back and threw him to a nearby tree, creating an impact that left behind a digital glow that began spreading. As for the infected victim, he had transformed into a zombie-like virus foot soldier with a chrome colored body and faceless helmet, along with the matching light cracks on him. The infected then tackled another person as she screamed in terror, infecting her as well before both began spreading the virus among the fleeing masses.

The figure then saw members of Anti-Skill train their weapons on him and opened fire on him. Unfortunately, the bullets dropped down as if he wasn't fazed at all and he casually walked toward them with his disc drawn. Realizing that bullets had no effect, they ran towards him but he derezzed them with three swipes of his disc as he continued walking toward his target, which happens to be Alan himself.

Meanwhile, the Judgement girls were witnessing what is happening; people are turning into these zombie-like beings and this man was using this 'goo' to create even more of these monsters. Not wanting anymore people to become infected, Uiharu and Kuroko put on their Judgement armbands for active duty.

"Uiharu, I need you to call Anti-Skill and tell them to send in reinforcements!" Shirai ordered her partner.

"I'm on it." Uiharu answered before running to safety to call Anti-Skill.

"Saten, I need to get you-"

"No way! I'm not sitting this one out, Shirai! I want to help!" Saten argued stubbornly.

Kuroko sighed in defeat. "Fine. But stay out of sight, okay?" She then turned to Misaka. "Sissy, do you think you can keep that thing busy while I get as many of these people to safety? We need to reduce the number of casualties."

Misaka only smirked before joking. "Can I, Kuroko? 'Diversion' is my specialty."

Kuroko groaned in response. "I hope so, for our sakes. Be back soon, you two." She then teleported and began getting civilians to safety.

"Saten, stay hidden and keep watch for me." Misaka said before running toward the intruder.

"But Misaka-!" Saten protested but her friend ignored her and just left her behind.

As Bradley watched the chaos happening, he saw the bizarre figure stalking towards him.

"IT'S YOUR TIME. EMBRACE IT." He says to the ENCOM chairman, still moving closer to him.

Before he had a chance to attack, something hit him from behind, making him stumble a bit while a trail of smoke appeared on his back. However, this didn't bother him since he took no damage from it. Turning around, the figure saw a certain girl with electric powers.

"Get out of there!" Misaka yelled towards Bradley. Seeing his chance to get away from the fight, Alan ran off knowing she could hold her own till help arrived.

The attacker looked back to where Alan was escaping and returned his gaze towards Misaka. "SUCH A SHAME. NO MATTER. DEALING WITH YOU FIRST IS GOING TO MAKE THINGS EASIER FOR ME."

Misaka scoffed at this before speaking in English. "A little early for Halloween, isn't it? Are you trying to be the Grim Reaper or something?"

The so called 'Grim Reaper' didn't seem to get the reference and simply outstretched his arms wide while remaining still in front of his opponent. "GO ON. HIT ME."

Misaka was a bit confused as to why he wanted to be attacked without defending himself or evading her shocks. Nonetheless, she grinned with a cocky attitude. "Fine." She took out an arcade token and used her fingers to launch it in the air and flicked her thumb to create a powerful blast. This is her Railgun, her strongest move ever. "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

The beam hit him, creating a huge explosion. The Railgun watched with victorious grin thinking she beat the costumed freak. However, Misaka's victory was short-lived when the dust died down, shocking her once again.

The mysterious individual was still standing without a scratch! He just tilted his head with his arms still outstretched as if mocking her.

"I don't understand! He just tanked my Railgun like those guys in black and it didn't even faze him! Just what in the hell is going on here?!" she shouted in shock. What scared her even more was that the cloaked man's, that is if he was human, echoey laughter started changing to a deeper tone in his voice as he spoke.

"YOU CANNOT STOP THE SPREADING DISEASE I'VE ALREADY CREATED." He cryptically explained as he continued to laugh.

This got Misaka pissed off and she shouted in anger. "DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" She continued to attack him with normal shocks powerful enough to severely injure a person, but he just took them head-on as he absorbed her shocks. Much to her surprise, he started to grow a few centimeters taller.

Having had enough of this, he slammed his disc on the ground, creating a shockwave to knock back Misaka as she screamed, landing on her back in pain.

"MISAKA!" Saten shouted, worried for her friend as she came out of her hiding spot and ran to check on the brunette, but the figure was fast enough to hold her hostage by gripping her arm.

Saten could feel his grip hurting her arm. "LET ME GO, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" But he ignored her, still gripping her hard. She cried in pain as he wouldn't stop.

"YOU SHOULD'VE STAYED OUT OF THIS, BUT MAYBE I SHOULD END YOUR LIFE FOR INTERFERING." He said, preparing to derezz her with his disc.

Misaka was watching helplessly as her friend was about to be killed in front of her. She was still stunned from the attack the monster hit her with and there was nothing she could do to save her but watch. Before the villain could do so, another mysterious black clad individual appeared from above with his disc already drawn. The hooded man released his grip on the helpless girl and tossed her next to Misaka, but he wasn't fast enough to stop the hybrid from ground pounding him, sending the virus flying back and crashing into the front of the stage itself.

The masked hero, secretly Anon in disguise, stood up from his crouched position and glanced back at Misaka and Saten, who were struggling to stand up.

"Don't. Rest." He simply said to them, leaving them confused.

"That's the vigilante? I thought he wore a discreet black suit and helmet like you described to us." Misaka said in a confused tone.

"It's him again, alright." Saten reassured her. "But his suit and helmet are different now."

"SO BE IT." Shaking that pain off him, the virus then used his disc to shoot out a viral form of electricity and spread his disease all over grass and part of the stage behind him. He then created an electrical cage of his own to separate himself and Anon from the girls so that their fight wouldn't be interrupted. "IF THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT."

_'This is Abraxas? I thought he'd be a bit shorter on the outside.' Anon mentally insulted the virus's appearance._

The virus, now identified as Abraxas, made his first move by throwing his disc at him. However, Anon easily deflected his disc back with the face of his own disc like a shield. Abraxas caught his weapon and noticed Anon running towards him and attempted to slash at him, but he blocked and parried the hybrid's quick attacks before stepping back to ground pound, making Anon back-flipping upwards. Luckily, he recovered and quickly landed back on the grass without any difficulty.

Abraxas jumped away from him onto the stage and used his infection to create violent, but zombie-like humanoid beings that were under his control using the pools of the digitized virus he created earlier with a simple touch.

"MY DISEASE CAN SPREAD FASTER THAN YOU CAN FIGHT IT."

The Infected then saw Anon and under the control of their master, they violently charged towards him. However, he went on the offensive as he threw his disc at one of them, derezzing it in the process. Another Infected attempted to claw at him, he evaded swiftly and used a heavy attack to derezz the creature. More kept coming and Anon jumped into the air and threw five light grenades at them that exploded on impact, wiping out the Infected in the blink of an eye. Landing back on the ground, he looked back at Abraxas and smirked underneath his helmet.

This only pissed Abraxas off as he leaped back into the fight so he could end this meddler. But being the quick thinker he is, Anon charged his disc up for another heavy attack and threw it at Abraxas. Time slowed down as the disc flew closer and closer to the virus as he attempted to block it. Big mistake, however, as the disc cleaved through part of Abraxas's own disc, shattering into several pieces. Anon's disc flew back to the hybrid as he caught it while staring towards the defeated enemy. With the fight over, the electric cage disintegrated. As for Abraxas's disc, it remained intact, but the huge gap that showed jagged edges of where the missing pieces were from flickered on and off, revealing the vector outlines of the weapon itself.

Looking at his own damaged weapon, Abraxas gives the hybrid a cryptic warning. "I THINK YOU WOULD'VE PREFERRED DEATH… TO THIS."

Before Anon could even begin to strike the final blow on him, Abraxas raised his damaged disc in the air and slammed it to the ground, creating a wave of lightning at him, in which Anon somersaulted out of the way before the wave could detonate his former position. Now crouched on one knee, the hero looked to where Abraxas was and saw him jump up high above the ground to a nearby rooftop. The virus himself glanced back down at Anon and simply laughed before turning and made his escape.

_'Damn it!' Anon cursed mentally. 'He got away.'_

Looking back at Saten and Misaka, he got up and walked toward them, still a bit sore from the fight. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah." Saten responded to him. "Thanks for saving my life again."

Misaka held her head from the trauma she was hit with. "Same with me. Guess I owe you one as well."

Just then, Kuroko teleported out of thin air with Uiharu and both Judgement girls saw their two friends hurt but okay and ran over to them.

"Sissy!" Kuroko hugged her roommate before releasing her. "Are you alright?!"

"I'll live, Kuroko. But that doesn't matter right now, what about the people you got to safety? Did some of them make it?" Misaka asked in concern.

"Yeah. Uiharu and I made sure the last ones got out before we went back to help you."

"You sure you don't need your arm looked at?" Uiharu asked Saten worriedly.

"Uiharu, I'm fine. It's not broken, okay? I've dealt with worse before." Saten said, calming her down.

"And as for you." Kuroko teleported in front of the masked hero and presented her armband to him. "In the name of Judgement, you're under arrest for acts of vigilantism and hereby wanted for questioning."

Anon remained silent as he just stared at her.

"The silent type, huh? I'll take that as a way of surrendering then."

"Are you always this talkative? You should be grateful I saved your friends' lives or things could've gotten a lot messier." Anon retorted, breaking the silence. Looking down on the ground from his right, he noticed shards of Abraxas' disc and went toward them.

"Hey! Don't just ignore me!" Kuroko yelled at him, but he paid no mind towards her or the other girls.

"Shirai, I don't think he's listening to you anymore." Saten deadpanned as she stood up and followed him.

Uiharu walks past Kuroko to follow them, even Misaka. "Come on Shirai, let's go see what he's doing. Maybe he'll give us an explanation."

Sighing, Kuroko just nodded without saying anything and followed her friends to talk to the vigilante.

Meanwhile, Anon crouched down, picked up one of the shards, and closely inspected it. "A viral attack on the outside world shouldn't be possible. Perhaps this will give me and Alan an answer or two." He thought aloud.

"What's that your holding?" Misaka queried, wanting answers.

Turning his head around to see the four girls walking towards him, he shook his head. "Nothing that concerns you four."

"What are you saying?! You haven't answered any of my questions from that previous night!" Saten shouted at him, impatient towards him.

"You've done enough. Now all of you, just go." He demanded, beginning to walk away. However, he was grabbed by the arm from none other than Misaka.

"Not until you tell us what the hell's going on here and why people have been vanishing from those black suited men!"

"Complicated." He replied, pulling her grip off.

"Tell us." Misaka impatiently repeated.

"Very complicated."

Fed up, Kuroko teleported in front of him again with small needles in her hands. "Listen, you! We didn't come all this way for no answers! We're smart enough to at least try to understand what we need to know, and don't even think about patronizing me or the others because people are disappearing and I'm not happy about it. We all aren't. SO. TELL. US."

Before Anon can give a response, a voice interrupted the interrogation. "Kid!"

Anon and the girls saw ENCOM's chairman running to them and stood in front of them. "What happened?" He asks the disguised Anon while taking care not to mention Anon's secret identity.

Ignoring the girls for now, Anon held up the disc fragment so that Alan could see it. "A virus. It somehow can infect many humans."

"Impossible." Alan commented in disbelief. "You know our world is closed off from there! Nothing gets out without a system administration access!"

"A virus? Like a computer virus interacting in the real world? And what system administration access?" Misaka asked herself.

The other girls listening in were wondering that also. Just what was ENCOM's chairman and this vigilante talking about? Could this mean that everything Kevin Flynn had theorized is true?

"And it didn't. It was already here. It must've evolved from the outside." Anon clarified. "I don't know how it's here, but my guess is that this is just a way to keep everyone, including the authorities, busy while they kidnap more people here for their cause."

"What are you saying?" Alan asked him, not liking what he meant.

Saten then stepped into the conversation. "What he's trying to say is that people here in Academy City's District 7 are vanishing."

Anon was taken aback from Saten's English but stayed silent.

"It's true, Mr. Bradley. We Judgement and Anti-Skill officers have started investigating these men in black and those pools of infection, which I think you called them, and have had no leads. Anyways, we're also supposed to bring in this man in for questioning so we can know what's going on." Kuroko explained further while pointing her finger at Anon.

Alan could only sigh at this. "Jesus, here in this city? Listen, kids. I don't mean to be rude and all, but I need you to tell your superiors to call off the hunt for my ally here so he can do his job."

"What?!" they shouted.

"You can't be serious! Everyone is vanishing and you're just going to not let us get involved?! I was kidnapped and stripped of my own clothing by those bastards! And since your 'ally' saved my life twice, my friends and I deserve to know the truth! We think that your company is somehow connected to this and we're not going anywhere until we get our answers!" Saten angrily yelled, having lost her temper.

"SATEN!" they shouted in panic.

"What?!" she yelled back at her friends. Then, she realized that she made a big mistake of telling him about investigating ENCOM to the chairman himself. "Shit. Thanks a lot, Ruiko. You've possibly angered the chairman himself." She sarcastically muttered under her breath.

Alan and Anon heard what she yelled at them, and they realized that these girls were in way too deep to stay out of it.

"Well fuck. This is bad."

"Kid, don't even think about it. I don't think we can keep these girls out of this crisis the two of us are dealing with alone." Alan admitted to him before whispering so that they can't here what he's saying. "Plus, this is a good time to make friends with them, including that Saten girl you interact more with."

Anon angrily hissed at his godfather. "Alan! You can't be serious! They're out of their own league! Sure they can handle themselves when dealing with Espers, but they have zero experience and not a lot of combat training to take on the Occupation."

"That's where you come in. You explain to them what's going on."

"What?!"

"Think about it. You know more about this stuff than I do, and we need allies that we can trust. And I think these four can be a good start for your fight against them." Alan suggested while gesturing to the girls that were in front of them.

"No, and that's final!"

Hearing this, Saten used a girl's trump card: fake crying in order to get him to reconsider.

"What are you doing?" Anon asked, annoyed.

"Making you feel guilty." She replies with sniffles before looking at her friends with a look while covering her face. "Play along." She whispered to them. Soon, Uiharu joined in but Misaka and Kuroko just stood there confused.

"Is it working?" Saten asked him. Despite the helmet covering his head and sealing off his face, it looked like he was starting to give in.

"No, it's not." He denied before chuckling angrily for using a dirty move on him. He turned away and turned off the modulator within his helmet so that they wouldn't hear him complain. "AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! DO NOT LET THEM WIN!

"I don't think it's working, Saten. If he's not gonna talk then I can just electrocute him." Misaka said to her, preparing to shock him, no longer caring if it didn't work or not right now. Before anyone could protest, Anon soon turned around and he gave them his answer.

"Okay. Fine. You win. Happy?" Anon retorted, still annoyed that Saten would use that card on him.

Saten cheered to herself. 'Woohoo! That's one for me! Way to go, Ruiko!'

"On three conditions."

"Of course, there's always a catch." Misaka groaned.

"One, tell your bosses, especially the 'Big Shot' himself, to back off so I can do my job."

This caused the girls to open their mouths in protest, but he wasn't done yet. Plus, who was this 'Big Shot' he's talking about? "Two, don't even think about tracking me down for answers I will not outright give, which is for everyone's sake."

"You've got to be joking! You think they're going to listen to your demands?!" Kuroko yelled at him angrily for the conditions he's telling them. However, he continued as if she didn't speak.

"Three, if you refuse to follow the first two conditions, I won't hesitate to beat the crap out of you. I'll make sure to never see your faces again."

Misaka counted her fingers and realized something was off. "One, two, three-huh? HEEEEEYYY! THAT WAS FOUR THINGS!"

Anon looked away with a deadpan look. "The last one was a two-parter."

This angered Misaka and Kuroko. However, Saten and Uiharu were laughing that their friends were so worked up about it. Saten, however, was laughing the most.

"Fine. We'll do what you ask us." Kuroko bitterly agreed, still pissed about it.

Alan stepped in to talk again. "I'm sure you'll get along just fine." He said before turning his attention to Anon again. "But let's stay focused on what's important here, eradicating this virus has to be the priority. We can deal with the rest later."

"Alan, you should leave Japan. It's an unnecessary risk with you being here while I resolve the situation."

Alan nodded his head in agreement. "Right. But I'm not sitting this out, kid. You tackle things from here and I'll see what I can do to keep ENCOM's board from finding out what we're doing. Especially from discovering your identity."

This caught the girls off guard, mostly Saten herself. Just who is this guy? And why does he not want anyone to know about his existence and his true identity?

Just then, sirens were heard from a distance.

"You should go." Alan warned.

"Same with you." Anon replied before turning to Kuroko. "Miss Shirai, I would appreciate that Alan here isn't to be questioned by the authorities. No one can know. The city's higher-ups got mostly everyone in their pockets. Don't tell anyone about me talking to him. The last thing I'd want is to put him in danger. You all have to trust me on this. Please."

Kuroko sighed. "I think we understand what you mean. I'll get him back to safety and call a cab to take him back to Tokyo airport. You have my word. Just… promise us that you'll answer all of our questions tomorrow."

"I promise you will have some of your questions answered." Anon then took out a black baton from his right thigh and ran to a nearby corner that led to the main road.

After Anon left, Kuroko returned to business. "Alright, Mr. Bradley." Kuroko said as he looked back at her. "You might want to hold onto your dinner."

Before Alan could question her, she grabbed his arm and teleported herself and him away, vanishing into thin air. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her friends, Saten saw other pieces of Abraxas' disc and discreetly gathered all of them. She had a gut feeling that if the dark side of the Academy were to get their hands on them, they would stop at nothing to use them to reverse engineer into a bio-weapon. She may be paranoid about this, but she wouldn't to take any chances as a rumor hunter. Tomorrow, she'll show the broken shards to her friends so that they could study it.

With the arrival of Anti-Skill, the girls told the leading woman in charge of leading Anti-Skill's reinforcements, Aiho Yomikawa, about tonight's events and described the cloaked man to be responsible for the virus pools that had been popping up, including the appearance of the vigilante that drove him off. She didn't take it well when they told her about his message. However, she decided she'll talk to her superiors about calling off the manhunt for the vigilante but couldn't guarantee that they'll listen since it's beyond her authority within her status as Anti-Skill.

As for the vigilante, secretly known as Anon Flynn, made his way home outside of Academy City called the Wastelands, but it looked like the Occupation were onto him now…

**Elsewhere in District 22's Third Underground Level…**

"Yeah… Looks like that guy you mentioned just ran off." A familiar voice reporting to Academy City's General Superintendent himself via his own cell phone said as he watched the whole thing himself, if you're counting his boss that was using tiny flying cameras that were a little difficult to see. "Though to be fair, he does have a point if you think about it. I don't think forcing him for answers is the smartest move, let alone start a manhunt in order to do so."

**"It matters not. The technology he and the intruders are using seems to be more advanced than Academy City's. He's free to do as he wishes but threatening me is pointless." Aleister – now in form of a 14-year-old girl after his original body was destroyed back in December - emotionlessly replied to the triple-agent spy.**

"So what do you want me to do? Keep an eye on him so you can add him to your 'Great Plan' that had so many setbacks like that time in England last December?" The voice, now revealed to be Motharu Tsuchimikado, sarcastically implied.

**"Yes, but it will be sometime before he became incorporated into my plans. For now, keep an eye on him with any means necessary. However, see to it that he remains alive. Something about him is different than the others. And I want to know what it is."**

"You're the boss, Aleister." Tsuchimikado dryly responded. Before he hung up, he prepared another question. "Just one more thing, what sort of plan do you have in mind for him, anyway? If he turns out to be a threat to you, I mean?"

**"Then he'll be eliminated, one way or the other. After all, there are other possibilities to achieve my goals."**

The Spy knew what he was talking about. Aleister wanted to eliminate the entire race of Magic Gods after a tragic event happened in the General Superintendent's life. With just that, Tsuchimikado ended the call and put his phone away, still watching Anti-Skill securing the crime scene from a distance.

_"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. That guy could possibly be a good person since he was interacting with those four girls in which Kami is currently dating the Railgun in secret. Still, he's too dense to realize if he truly loves her or not, and Misaka is struggling to confess her love to him." Tsuchimikado mentally said to himself, shaking his head at his best friend's idiocy. As the best spy around, it is his job to know everything, including Touma's interactions with Misaka, Index, or anyone that closely knows him, even himself since he knows about Touma and Misaka's dating status. _

"I guess there's never a dull moment. Not in in this city."

**A/N: Almost 10k words! Can you believe it? This is my longest chapter that I wrote.**

**Don't forget to leave a follow, a fav, or a review. After all, there's only one review and I appreciate you guys giving support even if you don't care.**

**Until next time.**

**END OF LINE**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: This next chapter will continue where we're left off.**

**Chapter 5**

**June 9****th****, 2029**

**Joseph's Diner - District 7**

It was already the next morning as the girls are sitting in their usual spot and are thinking about if the vigilante will keep his promise. Since school and final exams have been cancelled due to the recent terrorist attack at last night's ENCOM's public press conference, they decided to meet up at Joseph's for lunch. Meanwhile, Saten discreetly showed her friends the disc shards and they were a bit angry for her to take something from a crime scene. Uiharu is concerned about them possibly infecting them but Saten explained that the pieces are broken so they don't have to worry about it, and even if she didn't gathered them from the crime scene it's possible for dark organizations to take them off of Anti-Skill's hands and study them for their own evil purposes.

"That aside, how do we know he'll come talk to us for answers that we need? We have no idea of where he's hiding out at all." Misaka questions their situation.

"Oh Sissy, that's where you're wrong. As a Judgement officer like myself, I always improvise." Kuroko answers her roommate's questions with smug pride. "Uiharu, if you would?"

Uiharu takes out her laptop from her bag and places it on the table so that her friends can see it. "You see, Shirai here planted a GPS tracker on the guy's suit while he wasn't looking. That way, we can find out his exact location."

"Uiharu, you're a genius!" Saten exclaims happily as she hugs her best friend before letting go of her.

"Uh Saten, that was Shirai's idea." The Level 1 deadpans.

"Oh." The Level 0 says as Kuroko only nodded.

"So how do we exactly find him with this tracker?" Misaka asks.

Uiharu types on her laptop's keyboard to bring up the GPS interface. "There we go. Now all we have to do is... Done."

With the tracker activated, it gave the girls the guy's location. However, they're not going to believe what they're already seeing.

"That's not right. You do have the tracker's correct location, right?"

"This is what the interface is telling us, Shirai." Uiharu clarifies before typing further. "Uh oh."

"What?" Saten asks.

"Uh guys, I don't think the tracker's in Academy City anymore."

"What do you mean it's not in the city anymore?!" Misaka shouts angrily.

"Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Her friends shushed at her.

"There are still people here. I suggest that you don't make a scene, Sissy."

Misaka flushes a bit on her cheeks. "S-Sorry."

"Anyways, what do you mean?" Kuroko asks.

"I MEAN that the tracker is giving us his location."

"But that's outside the city walls. And from what I know, middle schoolers don't exactly do off-site investigations unless we want to get permission from the higher ups." Saten argues. "I mean, we have zero chances in convincing them."

Suddenly, someone's phone starts chiming. The girls look at each other to find the source of the sound until they realized it's coming from Misaka's Gekota cell phone. Taking her phone out of her pocket, the Electromaster flips it open to see an unknown cell number she's not familiar with.

"You guys don't mind if I take this? It's probably my mother." Lies Misaka, nervously chuckling before she walks to the ladies' restroom, leaving her friends wondering what that was about.

Entering in one of the stalls, she immediately answers the unknown caller. "Hello?"

"**You've answered. Good." The voice of a 14-year-old girl says. **

Misaka's eyes widen as she recognizes the emotionless tone.

"Aleister." Misaka dryly deduces. "How'd you get this number?"

"**Does it matter?" The Superintendent replies without caring what Misaka feels. "It seems you forgot that I have eyes and ears in Academy City."**

"Talk. What do you want?" The Railgun questions 'her', getting straight to the point.

"**Isn't it obvious? The people disappearing, unconfirmed sightings of an unknown force, even the appearance of that mystery man that save you and your friend's lives."**

Misaka isn't that surprised, considering that the most powerful magician on Earth has micro cameras within Academy City so that 'she' can know what's going on in the city that he founded. Hell, she probably knows about the vigilante's three demands.

"I'm not sure where you're getting at." Says Misaka, still not understanding what she's talking about.

"**What I'm saying is that you and your friends are free go off-site to continue this investigation of yours. On the condition that it's to be discreetly from the other eyes of both Anti-Skill and Judgement. I trust that you keep this between us, hmm?"**

Before she could say anything else, Aleister has already hung up. Sighing, Misaka closes her phone and exits the restroom. _"Honestly. I really can't stand that guy. Girl? Agh! This is confusing me so much!"_

Noticing their friend returning and sitting down next to Kuroko, Uiharu informs Misaka that while she was busy with an 'important call' students just got permission to both leave the city and come back anytime as school has been cancelled until the intruder has been dealt with.

"…And lastly, this message was sent out to student's phones and emails." Concludes Uiharu.

"At least we can leave the city and start looking for him." Saten sighs in relief. "It's been a long time since I lived outside the city during my childhood."

"_So this is what Aleister has in mind? Smart." Misaka mentally says with sarcasm, still not a fan of the Superintendent's methods._

"I guess it's settled then. Why don't we all head back to our dorms and gather what we need for travel before we head for the city gates?" Kuroko suggests.

"Sounds good." Misaka agrees with her.

"We should pack lightly. We don't need any heavy luggage slowing us down." Saten briefly added, which her friends also agreed to.

With everything settled, they head back to their respected dorms to pack and travel lightly. At around noon, they met up in normal clothes and immediately left for the city gates at almost noon to catch a cab to Tokyo. As they soon exit the city and entered Japan's capital, they will have to find transportation to get to Nagano. Luckily, the girls decided to take a train as close as they can and walk the rest of the way. Lunch was even provided to them on the train, so they don't have to go hungry during the trip.

**(Time skip)**

**Ueda Station**

**Ueda, Nagano, Japan**

**5:45 PM**

When their train arrived Ueda in Nagano, they got off and took a cab to follow the tracker's signal on Uiharu's GPS. They didn't get far because the driver explained to them that the southern road to the mountains have been closed off due to last December's earthquake, resulting in creating deep canyons and ravines, and even unstable rain and snowstorm clouds that are almost impossible to avoid and safely navigate the landscape.

"_The cause of it must've been the result from Coronzon's actions after she dropped the previous Windowless Building from orbit that destroyed almost half of Academy City. Luckily, everyone was evacuated before it happened, so that's good news. Still, the city hasn't even fully recovered from her attacks, and with the Occupation - Mr. Bradley and the vigilante refer to them as - still out there, this is something we can't face alone. Let's not even forget about that digital virus that's turning people into violent zombies under his control, and he's still on the loose." Misaka mentally theorizes._

"I guess we're gonna have to walk the rest of the way then." Kuroko mumbles under her breath.

"Kuroko, there are unstable storm clouds in the abandoned landscape, not to mention that there are huge canyons, ravines, and huge mountains formed from last December's earthquake. And even if lightening from those storms have possibly no effect on me, I'd rather not risk testing that out. Plus, you guys could severely get hurt from them." Misaka argues as she's concerned for their safety.

"So we came all this way just to reach another dead end?" complains Saten.

Uiharu steps in to calm her down as she puts a hand on her shoulder. "We'll find another way, Saten. We always do, remember?"

The long-haired girl shakes off her best friend's grip on her shoulder. "What if we can't? What if we can't find a way to stop these kidnappings? I'm not sure if we can defeat- um, what do they call themselves? The Occupation? I'm starting to doubt we might prevail against evil this time."

Uiharu has had enough of her behavior and lectures her. "Stop right there! You're acting like when you were desperate for power during the Level Upper case again! The Saten I know wouldn't just give up! Have faith! We've always believed in you! Maybe you don't need powers to help people! Be yourself! I've always trusted you! Misaka and Shirai, too! Please…"

"Uiharu's right. We can't start doubting ourselves. We came here for answers and that's what we're going to do." Shirai agrees with her partner in Judgement.

Before Saten could argue, they heard rocks crumbling and look up to see small rocks coming down on a small landslide hill.

"I don't think we're alone, guys." Misaka warns her friends preparing to electrocute anyone that would ambush them. Several seconds pass and there seems to be no one. The girls sigh in relief, thankful that it was just weather anomaly.

"Seems to be just rocks." Shirai believes to think.

How wrong they were as they turn around to only scream lightly as a stranger is standing in front of them, clad in a black bodysuit with white circuitry lines and wearing a helmet that the girls remember from last night. This is the disguised Anon.

"I believe this is yours." He simply says holding up the small tracker in his hands before throwing it to them, in which Uiharu quickly catches it in return.

"H-How did you-?" Kuroko begins to stammer but Anon interrupts her.

"I noticed you were planting a tracker on me while you were desperate for answers that you needed last night, so I played along."

"You wanted us to find you out here? Huh. No wonder tracking you down was suspiciously too easy, but I wasn't sure if it's true." Misaka deduces his plan. To be honest she never used that kind of tactic whenever she's fighting against the darkness of Academy City or magicians (which her friends still don't know about).

"I needed to talk to you guys in person, but with the prying eyes of the Superintendent, I couldn't take any risks."

"_Wait, he knows of Aleister?!" Misaka mentally exclaims in shock._

"You know who the Superintendent is? And how?" Shirai questions the hero.

"That's not your concern. Plus, I don't know the guy, but I have heard of him and once hacked into Academy City's Bank (a database of all the data collected, from student records to data on AIM diffusion field, even knowledge on the city's advanced technology)."

"You hacked the Bank?!" Uiharu yells in panic. "No one has successfully pulled that off! And even if Misaka or I would try do it ourselves, we'd barely could get pass the first firewall!"

"Yeah well, their security system is impressive but still not good enough to keep me out. Also, that was 3 months ago, so no, I didn't really steal anything from it." He causally said to the girls that stopped freaking out. "But we're getting off topic here. I know you have a lot of questions to just what the hell is going on here, believe me I know what that's like, but let's take this conversation to somewhere more secure and private."

"Hold on. You live out there? In the middle of nowhere? That place is uninhabitable for anyone or anything. No way you could've lasted that long on your own." Saten questions him in disbelief.

Anon said nothing back to her as he called his mode of transportation. The girls heard an engine revving and look above from behind as it got closer and made a jump off that rockslide and over the five teens before landing and perform a 180 degree turn in front of them. Standing before them is the Light Runner, one of the different vehicles of the Grid. This baby resembles a sports car and can even go off-Grid for rough terrain. The vehicle is standard black in design and has circuitry lights on all four wheels, including the interior and exterior of the Runner. The vehicle doesn't have a roof over the driver and passenger seats so that anyone in it can immediately get out quickly. However, Anon made some major modifications so that it can work in the real world as it was originally designed to only be used in the digital world. It even includes the addition of three more seats in the back for more passengers or as storage for more cargo.

Saten whistles at the most badass car she's ever seen, even her friends are amazed by how awesome it looks. "That's one badass-looking car."

Anon had to restrain himself from chuckling at her comment so that he wouldn't go out of character in his masked identity. The Light Runner's exterior opens, and he gets in the driver's seat.

"Shotgun." Saten instantly says with an excited grin, wanting to sit in the front passenger seat, earning a groan from Misaka as she does not want to sit in the back next to Kuroko because she started being perverted towards her again on the train not long ago.

"Look, I don't care which seat you want to take. Just get in the damn Runner." He says.

That was all that he has to say, so Uiharu offered to sit in the middle while Misaka and Kuroko sit near the opposite sides in the back, giving the Level 5 some breathing room for once.

"Hey. Does this thing have any seatbelts?" Saten asked nervously, which caused the others to be concern.

Closing the exterior, Anon simply sighs. "The Light Runner isn't designed for civilian transport. It's a combat vehicle, so no, it doesn't have any. Besides, life doesn't give you seatbelts."

Like that, Anon presses his foot on the gas (Light vehicles do not run on fossil fuels; it has an infinite energy source for the vehicle to run without losing power) and the Runner speeds away into the Wastelands. The girls had to hold on without falling out due to lack of seatbelts.

"COULD YOU AT LEAST SLOW DOWN A BIT?! THIS THING DOESN'T HAVE SEATBELTS YOU KNOW!" Kuroko yells angrily at him while holding on for dear life.

"WHAT?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF DRIVING HERE!" He mockingly yells back, pretending to not hear her.

This resulted in Kuroko snarling at him for mocking her. "MONKEY! HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OUT OF ME!"

Saten giggled at this. "Just try to relax! I've been in a few different vehicles without seatbelts on before many times, so don't try to move around too much or you'll fall out of your seat!"

Kuroko only pouts at the worst advice from the rumor hunter in her opinion. Meanwhile, Misaka looks at the newly grayish-black rocky landscape – from her seat - that was the result of the Earthquake that shook the world 6 months prior.

"My God… It's like there's no life out here at all. Just rocks, and rocks, and more rocks." Saddened by how much damage the demon Coronzon had inflicted upon. Misaka's friends notice the surrounding environment and felt the same way she's feeling. The storm clouds with its thunder and lightning only made the land look gloomier.

"It'll come back, Misaka. Not all of the natural landscape was destroyed in the tragic earthquake." Anon assures her, not keeping his eyes off the safest trail as he drives. "If there's still hope, maybe all of it will grow back."

"U-Um, mister?" Uiharu nervously asks. "Shouldn't we be more worried about the unstable storms in this area?

"Y-yeah. I really don't want to die by getting struck by lightning." Saten agrees with her, also nervous of dying like that.

"We're on one of the Wasteland's safe zones. If we stay off the hazardous ones, we won't have any problems getting electrocuted by an unstable beam of plasma in the sky."

The two Sakugawa Middle Schoolers sighed in relief at this. However, the name of the landscape did interest Saten more. "Wastelands?"

"Yeah. Named it myself years ago when I first came here. The place was abandoned by the Japanese government when more of its people moved in to Academy City by the time I made myself home here." He answers her question. "When the earthquake came, it destroyed most of the abandoned homes located in the hazard zones. Almost all of the plants and wildlife here is gone but its safe to say that they've survived an event so cataclysmic."

For the rest of the drive, the girls remained quiet as they felt heartbroken at destruction that was caused not long ago. As for Anon, he secretly feels the same way, but being upset about it won't bring it all back instantly. Right now, he needs to focus on taking down the Occupation and whoever's leading them. Knowing that they're close, he uses the gear shifter to speed up a bit.

"We're close now, ladies. It won't be long." He informs them, catching their attention.

The Light Runner arrives at a huge flat area and Anon's home is that tall mountain spire that's relatively new to the girls as there's never a spire like that in real life. Driving towards a cliff that cuts off the path to the spire, a bridge rezzes (another term for 'resolve') in front of the speeding vehicle and drive on it towards his isolated home as the bridge derezzes from behind so that no one can find a way across. A hidden door opens, and the Runner enters the spire and the door behind closes shut. The vehicle goes through a long tunnel with white circuitry lights and parks on a turntable. Anon gets out of the Runner with the girls following behind as he walks to a platform that's meant to be an elevator.

The platform carrying the five people then lights up and elevates upward in the tall shaft. It wasn't long to reach the observation floor and the platform stops at its destination that matches the black digital floor. The room looks empty and dark. No windows either. Plus, the girls can't even see in the dark. Anon steps of the platform, triggering the room to go online, including the checkered ceiling panels to light up and the walls that circles around the huge room derezzes to a circular windowed glass. He walks toward the glass with the girls standing behind him.

"Whoa! This place huge!" Uiharu says in awe.

"There must be about 50 floors here!" Saten agrees with her.

"Correction: 100 floors." Anon corrected her.

"Guys! I can see Academy City from here!" Misaka says, catching everyone's attention. The spire's viewpoint is so tall that the skyline of the city could be seen man miles from here.

"I'm glad all of you are enjoying the view." He says with his arms crossed.

"Yes, this place is impressive. Not as close to Academy City's standards, but still." Kuroko compliments his home.

Anon rolled his eyes underneath his helmet at how she thinks this place isn't advanced than the City of Science. Luckily for her, he decided to not start an argument with her about whose tech is superior.

Misaka steps in and changes the topic. "Not to be rude or anything, but you promised us to give us answers."

Saten, Uiharu, and Kuroko nod their heads in agreement and it's about time he starts talking. Sighing, Anon agrees as well.

"Right. Where to start?" He asks himself aloud.

"Why not tell us about the Occupation that you and Mr. Bradley called them?" Suggested Kuroko.

"Okay." Nods the black-suited vigilante. "The Occupation is a regime that strikes fear into the hearts of innocents and they have one, and only one goal: perfection."

"Perfection? Like a utopian society?" Uiharu questions.

"Exactly."

Saten didn't where this is going but she needed to know the real reason people are vanishing. "But why? Why would they kidnap normal people in Academy City? And for what purpose?"

"Not just Academy City. It's been happening in a few cities back in the U.S. Chicago, Detroit, New York, even Center City in California."

Kuroko interrupts him with her hand up. "Hold on. You're saying that this has been happening for some time?"

"Yes. About 16 years ago."

"16 years?!" Saten says in shock. "As in, they've been planning this for a long time?!"

"I'm afraid so." He dryly answers. "As for why, they needed an army. When I saw you kidnapped and went to save you, they planned to turn you into a mindless drone. They strip you all your clothing and then go through a process called 'Repurposing.'

The girls were shocked of this. Hell, Saten was more shocked than the others since she experienced be shamefully stripped naked.

"R-Repurposing?" she repeated the term to herself. "You mean… If you didn't rescue me in time, I'd become a slave to them, no longer having any humanity left?"

Anon didn't say a word at that and turned away to look at the view instead.

"H-How many innocents have they repurposed?" Shirai asks in horror.

He didn't move an inch, but he knows that they're not going to like what has to say. "In the U.S., Thousands. Maybe a few million. Men, women… even the children, ranging from ages 12 or more."

Unfortunately for the Saten, she didn't take the news very well as her eyes widen and started shaking in fear and begin to hyperventilate as she remembers the traumatizing experience she almost went through.

"Saten, are you okay?" Uiharu asks in concern, her voice echoing out to the troubled Level 0. The long-haired girl couldn't hear her as she closes her eyes to try and calm down but when she opened her eyes, she sees that she's not in the observation room with her friends anymore. She was in an entirely different place. Looking around, she sees that the sky is dark and that it's raining with thunder and lightning in the background. But more importantly, the buildings in the distance look different and have circuitry lights. She looks at her skin tone and sees that it's slightly pale. Come to think of it, everything is almost black and white except for the color of her eyes.

"_It's like it's straight out of a really old movie." Saten mentally says about her surroundings._

Just then, she hears the sound of what appears to be cheering. But not the happy kind. Turning her head to the direction she sees a huge army of Black Guards, Recognizers, and even airships she hasn't seen before. But what scares her the most, is an unfamiliar voice spoken in English. Thankfully, she took that course since it might come in handy if any foreigners decided to visit Academy City for themselves.

"REJOICE, MY SOLDIERS!" The voice booming over the large army that seems to worship him. "YOU HAVE BEEN REPURPOSED IN THE REST OF FREE ARMY!"

The army cheers in unison as Saten witnesses this from a cliff she's standing on. She didn't like where this speech is going, and it's scaring her even more when the Black Guards are chanting to their leader's voice.

"TOGETHER, WE WILL CLEANSE THE GRID OF IMPERFECTION. TOGETHER, WE WILL WIPE OUT THE AGENTS OF CHAOS!"

As Saten continues to watch in fear, four Black Guards appear from behind. "Halt, Program. You're coming with us."

She gasps and turns around in horror. They we're getting closer to her and one of them grabs her arm, but Saten reacted by punching him in the face, knocking him down. She starts running away, but she tripped and land on the ground. The Black Guards caught up to her and one of them outstretches his hand to pick her up. She started kicking his hand away moving back on her bottom.

"Stay away from me!" She screamed, preparing for the inevitable as she covers her head and wrap her arms around her legs while sitting up.

"What are you talking about, Saten?" Uiharu's voice can be heard.

"Just leave me alone!" Saten yells back, not knowing it's her best friend.

"Saten!" Misaka's voice shouts.

"Snap out of it, Saten!" Kuroko's voice added.

"Saten!" the last voice coming from Anon shouts.

She gasps as she opens her eyes again, only to see Anon crouching down to her level and putting a hand on her shoulder. She looks around and realizes she's back in the observation room.

"W-What happened?" She nervously asks.

"You started hyperventilating and zoned out." Anon explains. "We tried to help you, but you attacked us and attempted to run off. Luckily, you tripped, and I was able to get through to you."

"W-What do you mean I attacked you?" She questions further. Looking behind him, she sees that Uiharu ended up with a bleeding nose. "D-Did I… Did I do that?"

Saten then started to tear up which her friends noticed. She then picks herself up but doesn't dare look back at what she did. "I-. I-I didn't mean to-."

"Saten, this isn't your fault. You were hallucinating and had a panic attack. Uiharu's bleeding a little but she's fine. You didn't break her nose." Misaka says, trying to calm her down.

"Uiharu, I-." She begins to apologize, struggling to look her in the eye.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. We're friends, right?" Uiharu interrupts Saten with a sad smile, earning the same expression back from her.

"Y-yeah. Friends."

"Could you tell us what you saw?" Misaka asks. Saten remained silent.

"It's okay. You don't have to tell us if you want to." Kuroko pitches in.

Saten takes a deep breath and is able to look at her friends again. "I saw… an army. I saw a skyline in the distance and dark storm clouds. It was raining, too."

Anon's eyes widen underneath his helmet. "You mean Black Guards?"

"Y-yeah. What you said." She confirms to him.

"Can you tell me what else you saw?" He questions further. Saten remained silent and isn't sure what to say next.

Anon couldn't see her suffering like this. "Saten, we can't help you like this if we don't know what exactly you saw. Please."

She looks up in Anon's visor, then her friends who gave her an okay expression. Taking a deep breath, she continues her story. "Well, I didn't see anything else except a voice. He was giving a speech to the soldiers that he repurposed for his regime. H-He said something about cleansing the Grid of imperfection, declaring that the Occupation wants to wipe out the agents of chaos."

Anon barely gasps at this, which the girls noticed this. "And?"

"That was it." She concludes.

"Do you know anything about what the Grid is?" Misaka asks the masked hero. Her friends are also curious as well.

He answers with a nod. "Yes."

Pausing for a moment he asks them a question. "Tell me, do you believe that there are possibly other worlds that we aren't aware of?"

"W-Well, there was this book written by Kevin Flynn and it discussed something about a digital frontier and mapping out the universe." Uiharu answers. "Do you anything about Flynn?"

Anon was caught off guard at her question. He feels that they're not ready for the truth of why his grandfather was never seen again, let alone reveal his true identity to them.

"No." He lied, disappointing the girls. "However, I can tell you what I do know."

Hearing this made them a little pleased that they'll still get more answers. Turns around and brings up a hologram that shows an interface. In other words, a holographic computer. Swiping down a smaller screen, Anon brings up an archived file. And with a single tap, the file opens up some footage for the girls to see and the screen expands a bit.

"Hidden away inside a computer, exists another world. Its creator designed it for games. But it became so much more."

What they see now is a dark flat landscape with black chess-like squares, and the lines of the squares are teal in color. And an unknown figure is overlooking the land as cities started taking form. The girls have mixed opinions about it. Misaka is dumbstruck by how beautiful this world is and that it's literally straight out of a video game. Kuroko on the other hand, believes that a world inside a computer is that of pseudo-science and fantasy, and that it's impossible. As for the Sakugawa school girls, they have the same opinion as Misaka, with the exception that Uiharu – as a computer hacker/programmer herself –had theories of her own about different worlds inside them but seeing this for real with her own eyes proves that it's not a dream. Saten also believes that this digital world is beautiful but becomes a bit nervous about it due to recently having her first panic attack.

"He called it… the Grid. A digital utopia filled with infinite possibilities."

"Whoa…" Misaka says in awe. "I never imagined that this place is so beautiful."

"Indeed." Anon agrees with a sad smile. "After his first experience in the digital world, but in another system, it deeply changed him and was inspired to return there. To that end, he created his own system as a playground where he could experiment to his heart's content. And slowly, the Grid evolved into a civilization that inhabits digital beings called Programs or Basics, for short."

"Programs… that's what that Black Guard was calling me when they were roughly examining me." You can guess who said that.

"So these programs… they're like people?" Kuroko guesses.

"Yes. They also have a unique trait of looking exactly like us in our world." He added.

"What?!" The girls shouted in surprise.

"I know. It shocked me the first time I entered the Grid."

"How can you be so casual about it?!"

He waves a hand at them and shrugs. "Eh, overtime you'll get use to it. Anyways, unlike us, they live on pure energy, and Misaka here thought it be best to zap hostile beings from a computer."

"Hey! I didn't know my powers wouldn't work on them!"

"Yeah, but you just let them absorb the pure energy from your electricity. For example, when you tried to take on Abraxas head on, he just absorbed it and becomes more powerful if he absorbs more energy."

"Abraxas? You mean the virus she fought?" Saten guesses.

"Yeah. Not to mention when I fought him at full power, he just tanked them like it was nothing. Plus, he just grew a few inches taller."

Anon sighs at Misaka's hotheadedness and idiocy. "Trust me. You're better off fighting a colossus-sized virus that'll just keep getting stronger. Besides, what you did back there was stupid and reckless. It's no wonder you barely have proper combat training."

Misaka heard his insulting comment and grits her teeth in anger as she starts to generate her ability. "Excuse me?! You think you can just criticize on how I fight an opponent like that?!"

The others had to shield their eyes at how bright her electricity is generating and Anon starts getting a bit anxious around her. "Will you please stop that?! Your powers could unintentionally bring this entire place down!"

Hearing this calmed Misaka down but left her blushing hard in embarrassment. "S-Sorry! It's just that I generate my power without proper control whenever I get worked up!"

"I noticed." He deadpanned. "But you're not doing that again. This is my home after all."

She nods in understanding. "Y-Yes sir."

"I hate to interrupt you two, but could please tell us how all this has to got to do with the Occupation's goal of perfection?" Kuroko interrupts.

"Right, of course." He apologizes with a nod. "*Ahem* In lay man's terms, the creator wanted to build a system where all information is free and open to everyone, and possibly have Programs and Users live together in peace and harmony one day."

"Users?" Uiharu questions in confusion. Misaka, Kuroko, and Saten feel the same way when he mentioned a term that's foreign to them.

"Oh, right. You guys aren't familiar with Grid terms. Programs refer to us as 'Users', in which we Users operate a computer in the real world. Hence, the programs are written to look like us but in a different reality."

"So if I were to write a program on a computer, that program will look exactly like me?" The Level 1 guesses.

"If you like to put it that way, then yes. Which means programs see us as gods to them. Literally."

This caused the girls to feel a bit flustered at what he said. Being seen as gods does sound cool, but it could also make them a bit uncomfortable.

"_Me as a god to them? I-I don't know what to say about that…" Saten mentally believes with a blushing wave on her face._

Anon saw her blushing face and thought that it was cute. He realized what he had thought and started blushing as well, mentally shaking his head that it's not like he's developing a huge crush on her. Getting a hold of himself, his blush goes away and changes the video to someone important to the Grid. A program that inspires hope to its inhabitants.

The program was in the center of a small arena of sorts. He was throwing his disc at the opposing players, while simultaneously deflecting their discs back at them and evading incoming attacks. Unlike most programs that wear jet black light suits, he wears a white version instead. Its circuitry lines are white from upper body to all the way down to his legs (two circular lights on his shoulder pads), along with a circular light in the center of his chest and inside it bears a four-squared emblem that resembles a 'T.' As for his facial appearance, he has dark brown hair and peach skin tone. The guy looked familiar and they realized that he looks exactly like Alan Bradley but younger and taller than the old man.

"Knowing that the Grid would be left unsecured, the creator relied on the hero – Tron – to keep it free for all programs who lived there."

"Wait, wait, wait." Misaka interrupts him again. "You're telling us that Tron, the name of the character from a video game made by ENCOM, is a real person?"

"Yes."

"You expect us to believe a video game character is real? Come on, that's impossible." Kuroko snorts in disbelief.

"Says the girl that she and her friends come from a city that makes the impossible possible." He roasts the teleporter, catching her off guard.

"Wha-a-huh?!"

Her friends started chuckling which didn't go unnoticed to her. "You think this is funny?! This monkey just mocked us!"

"I don't know, Kuroko. Maybe he's got a point. After all, Academy City is where the impossible becomes a reality." Misaka admits while grinning.

Kuroko just groans at this, feeling that she's humiliated by this mystery man's antics.

"As for the Occupation, it was all because of one program who believed that perfection would, and I quote, 'liberate' all programs from their creator." He concludes with a hint of sadness in his voice.

Saten notices this and hesitates to ask him at first but does it anyway. "W-What happened?"

"I'm sorry, but that's all I can say." He says in dread before closing the video file and holo-computer, turning his attention to the girls. "Now that I answered all of your questions, I'm gonna be honest with you. A war is coming. Humanity doesn't even know it's happening. The Occupation has rounded up many innocents and somehow found a way to repurpose them into their cause. And with the four of you here, we can take the fight to them."

Saten becomes confused to his words as well as her friends. "Wait, why us?"

"Yeah, and we still don't even know your name." Misaka agrees with her.

"My name doesn't matter right now. The reason I brought you four here besides answering your questions is because I – as much as I hate to admit it - need help. Especially more from Saten."

"What?" the confused bubbly girl asks.

"From someone whose committed, I think you… maybe just what I've been looking for."

"Saten? What do you mean her? And what ARE you looking for exactly?" Kuroko questions.

This is it. This is the moment Anon wants to tell Saten what he's really looking for. No turning back now.

"The next Tron."

The girls slowly processed at what they just heard from him, and their eyes widen in surprise. "What?!"

"M-Me?" the flustered girl stutters.

"Yes. Tron fought back against the Occupation but was derezzed as they were too powerful for him to stop on his own when they took over the Grid."

"Derezzed? You mean when you killed those Guards and they instantly shatter like glass?"

"They become voxel cubes, but yeah, you're right."

"But there has to be a way to save the people that we're brainwashed, right?"

"No."

"What do you mean 'no?!' We can't just kill them! We'd be no better than scum like the Occupation or the Kiharas if we go down this path!"

"Don't you think I tried that?!" He snapped, causing the girls to jump a bit in fright. "They're repurposing is too strong for the brainwashed to resist! This isn't about being no better! This is a fucking war that they're preparing! Your naivety will only get yourselves killed or repurposed! I don't care if it's against your ideals. Kill one life, to save many. Don't you get it? Perfecting systems isn't enough for them. And now that they've escaped from digital space with a digitizer, they want to subjugate us by either extinction, or enslave us. I'm sorry, but there's no other way."

The girls stopped and think for a moment. They hate to admit it, but he's right. And if what he says is true that there's no way to save these people, then they will have to give up their no-kill rule.

"T-This is a lot to take in. Beings from another world? A video game coming to life? I-It's all too much for me." Saten confesses. "And you want me to be Tron? I-I don't think I'm cut out for this. With no way to save the people that have become mindless slaves, I-I just want to forget all of this is happening. I'm sorry, but I'm not what you see in me or them. We're just like everyone else."

"Do you truly believe that?" He asks them.

Regretfully, they do. It's all too much for them. Sure they know how to handle threats like the Kiharas, but fighting a war is not the same to them.

"Y-Yeah."

Anon feels disappointed with her answer. If they don't see how dangerous this is, then asking them for help was a mistake for him.

"Then the war is already lost." He says as he walks back to the window, arms crossed. "There's a dangerous storm coming tonight, so you can't leave here. Take 10 floors down and you'll find guest rooms with a kitchen and bathrooms next door. Once it's morning, you can show yourselves out. You can go back to your lives and prepare for the inevitable."

"T-Thank you." Saten sadly thanks. The four girls make for the platform elevator but not before the long-haired girl looks back at him with a regretful face. "I'm sorry."

With girls going down the elevator with their things to settle in for the night, Anon is left alone to ponder the situation, sighing in disappointment.

**(Time Skip)**

**June 10****th****, 2029**

**1:57 AM**

The middle of the night came, and everyone had already gone to sleep awhile ago. There were only two guest rooms on the floor they're on, so the four girls are split in pairs to share a room. As they're roommates at Tokiwadai, Misaka and Kuroko ended up sleeping in one room (with the teleporter's perverted attempts on her best friend that she's crazily in love with, as always). For Saten and Uiharu, they've never shared a room before since they had different dormitories for Sakugawa, though they did a sleepover with their friends at one point. Seems like all's well for everyone except for Anon, now out of his suit. He couldn't sleep due to Saten declining his offer for help to prevent a war between humans and programs as she and her friends just couldn't bear the thought of taking the lives of repurposed innocents and with no way to save them, it looks like that there's zero chance of saving humanity from enslavement or extinction. However, that's not the only thing that concerns him because he's dying.

Not long after the death of his only mother, Anon was tortured and left to die but not before leaving him a parting gift to him. A virus corrupting his ISO half within his human genetic code that prevents his wounds from healing properly and reopening whenever he's on the field. This modification also took away his human ability to eat food or drink water (or any kinds of liquids), leaving him to rely on pure energy. Now normally, Basics and ISOs get tired if they have none, but in the hybrid's case, he'll die without it. So his only solution was to build a healing chamber that temporary keeps his injuries from reopening and delay his slow death. Taking a look at himself, the scars are healing up but stops midway due to the virus inside his genes is adapting and the continuing use of the wrist watch that rezzes into his suit has accelerated his condition. The only way to fully cleanse the virus and heal him permanently is the Occupation's secret repurposing facilities. But since he destroyed the last known one in Academy City, reengineering the machine from scratch is completely impossible without the data. And even though it's highly possible that the Occupation's main hideout has more of them, there's not enough time to find their hidden fortress as he is already out of options to save himself and running out of time to stop them from beginning their invasion on the Earth.

Walking down the hallways of his home, he turns a corner only to see Saten and Uiharu awake and talking. Hiding behind the corner, he listen's in on their conversation.

"Do you really believe we've made the right choice, Uiharu?" Saten asks her best friend.

"I don't know, Saten. This is all too much for the four of us."

"Maybe coming here was a mistake. Once we leave, I'm forgetting that I ever met him." She bitterly says. "*sighs* I'm going back to sleep, Uiharu."

Saten and Uiharu then make their way back to their rooms and once they're gone, Anon stands there without moving an inch.

"_Maybe it's for the best. Maybe this was a mistake to involve you four."_

**Back in Academy City…**

"With all due respect, Alpha, the weapon you sent failed to assassinate the ENCOM chairman. First, the Railgun distracted the Abraxas and made the target escape. Then, he started to not follow his objective and instead almost killed some girl… And lastly, your men have said that he was bested by one of your kind who has been destroying your so-called repurposing facilities in Academy City, and yet you seem to withhold this information from us! I only ask that you take this matter seriously!" An unknown figure complains to his ally through a holo-transmission.

"**The only matter I do not take seriously, boy, is you. Your politics bore me! Your demeanor is that of a pouty child. I shall honor our agreement, User, unless you deal with the Monitor. But if it's not dealt with, the next time we meet in person again… our partnership is over, and I will see to dealing with him myself."**

After the transmission ends, he sighs in exasperation as he is sitting in a passenger seat in the back of a car and orders his driver to take him home. Sitting next to him is his recently new bodyguard sent to him by the Occupation.

"There's been a change of plans. The Monitor has been destroying our repurposing facilities. You're free to use any means necessary, but I want his death to be discreet. The authorities have tightened up more security, so they must not discover you. Leave no witnesses."

"And the Railgun and her friends? The modulated voice asks.

"Do what you have to!" He snaps before calming down. "If they get in your way, kill them as well! But your main target is the Monitor."

"As you wish, Kihara." The bodyguard complies without hesitation.

**END OF LINE**


End file.
